Finding Home
by darkcyan
Summary: On a school trip, between one moment and the next, Tanuma's teacher and about half of his classmates disappear. Everyone must figure out how to deal with this changed world, and the new dangers it has brought with it. Meanwhile, Tanuma wants to believe that Natsume was not one of those who disappeared that day ... but if not, where is he?
1. Chapter 1

**Major characters: **Tanuma, Taki, Nishimura, Kitamoto, Natori, Natsume, the Fujiwaras, Matoba.

**Minor characters: **If they recur in the series (or are one-offs who I really liked), they'll probably end up in here at some point.

**Pairings: **None yet. Knowing me, it'll probably stay that way. If it doesn't, I'll update this note.

**Warnings: **Lots of death. Most of it offscreen, none of it graphic.

**Timeline: **(Very, very) AU after volume 17. Since the manga plays very fast and loose with seasonal continuity anyway, I'm saying that everything up through volume 17 happened in the space of a year (somehow). This story starts in May of the following school year, Natsume et al's second year of high school. (Note that this assumes the Japanese calendar, so May is fairly near the beginning of the school year.)

Since it's hard to judge based on technology level when the manga takes place, I've also taken the liberty of setting this story in the early-to-mid 2000s, since that's when it was first released.

**OCs: **If you don't recognize someone, chances are good that I made them up. One notable exception: Furuya Kouta, Class 1's representative, I stole from "The _Ayakashi_'s Dream" (妖の夢路), one of the short stories in the Natsume light novel.

**General notes: **I don't even know where this came from. But hopefully you will all enjoy reading it at least as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

# # # Chapter 1 # # #

Tanuma Kaname winced as he exited the art museum. The mild headache he had been struggling to ignore for the last hour spiked as he squinted into the early afternoon sun. _I wonder if there are any _youkai_ around here. It feels a bit like one of _those_ headaches. _He sighed and rubbed at his temples. They'd been getting a lot better lately, his headaches, barring the sort of overexposure he'd experienced at Omibashira's mansion. He'd started to hope that maybe he really was building up a tolerance to the sort of low level _youkai_ activity that seemed so common at home.

_I wish Natsume was here to ask._ He bit back another sigh. This trip would have been more fun in general, with Natsume. Unfortunately, his friend was somewhere else in the city with his own class, visiting a completely different museum.

"You all right?" Kaname blinked and looked up. Kitamoto lingered halfway down the stairs, looking up at him, as the rest of their class gathered around their homeroom teacher at the base.

Kaname smiled, dropping his hands. "Yes, I'm fine. The sun was just a bit … unexpected."

Kitamoto didn't look like he entirely believed him, but he just nodded and fell silently into step as Kaname caught up.

The instructor shot them a look as they finally rejoined the class – he had always been a bit on the strict side – and cleared his throat. "Don't forget that your worksheets are due by tonight. I'll be collecting them after dinner. Does everyone have their materials for the next museum?"

Kaname quickly double-checked his bag, and was relieved to see everything where it should be. He had thought he remembered packing everything that morning, but his headache was making it increasingly hard to think.

"You're sure you're okay?" Kitamoto asked, and Kaname guiltily tucked the hand that had snuck back up to rub at his forehead again into his pocket.

"Fine." He said shortly, and immediately regretted it. He stopped, closed his eyes, then tried for a properly apologetic smile. "Sorry. Just a bit of a headache. I get them sometimes."

"Well, say something if it gets worse." Kitamoto said. "If you're going to faint in front of me again, I'd like a little forewarning."

"I'll be sure to aim for your arms." He said dryly, reflexively stepping out of range of Kitamoto's playful retaliatory punch. "It's not anywhere near that bad, though. Just irritating."

"If you're sure." Kaname threw him a look that bordered on a glare, and Kitamoto backed off, grinning. "Just a question!"

Their instructor finished speaking – somehow having missed their exchange – and they started walking again. Kaname hoped he hadn't said anything else important.

_I_ really_ wish Natsume was here._ Although the initial stab of pain from the sun had subsided back into the previous dull background pounding from before, either said pounding was getting steadily worse or it was getting harder to ignore. _If there _is_ something around here, it must be really big. Even Omibashira's mansion didn't affect me this badly at first. _And while he doubted he'd be any help against something that large, he'd at least like to know that someone who _might_ was around.

… _Though I wouldn't want to wish that sort of confrontation on Natsume. _He turned his eyes away from the class; their bobbing heads were beginning to make him feel a bit sick to his stomach. _Maybe I'm glad that he's not here, after all._

Kitamoto nudged him, and the suddenness of the motion almost threw him off-balance. "Hey. Think a drink would help?" His friend asked, and Kaname followed his gaze to a vending machine on the other side of the street.

"Maybe." Kaname pursed his lips. If it really was _youkai_-induced, the chances of drinking something having any impact at all were slight. But … "It couldn't hurt." He raised a hand. "Sensei?"

Their teacher stopped and turned around, and the class as a whole ground to a halt, turning to look at him as well. "Yes, Tanuma-_kun_?"

With all those eyes on him, he was having a hard time remembering what he had wanted to say, or why he had thought saying it was a good idea. Thankfully – though he hated admitting it – Kitamoto spoke up. "Could we go get something to drink?" He gestured at the vending machine. "Tanuma's feeling a bit sick."

Their instructor looked irritated at the interruption, but waved them off. "Go on."

"Thank you." Kaname said quietly. They backtracked a short distance to the nearest cross-walk. Happily, it wasn't long before the light turned. "Sorry about that." He said to Kitamoto – quietly, as he noticed that a couple of their classmates had followed the two of them, apparently deciding that getting something to drink sounded like a good idea.

"Don't worry about it." The other boy said dismissively. He flashed a smile. "I'm getting thirsty, too. Lunch was quite a while ago."

Kaname eyed his friend, but decided against saying anything else. For all that Kitamoto often faded into the background when Nishimura was around, he could be surprisingly stubborn.

He did, however, make a point of buying two cans – mixed fruit juice for himself and a can coffee of a brand that he'd seen Kitamoto drinking once or twice. He tossed the second to Kitamoto, then cleared out of the way for the next person in line, a girl with shoulder-length black hair held back by a red headband, who sat halfway across the room from him and whose name he couldn't quite remember. Yama … something?

Kitamoto caught the can coffee, looked between it and Kaname, rolled his eyes, opened it, and started to drink. Kaname smiled and followed suit. The mixed sweet and tanginess struck his tongue with nearly the same force as those first rays of sun before, though far more pleasantly. Surprisingly, his headache actually did seem to be letting up slightly. _Maybe just because the taste is a pleasant distrac – _

Pain.

He crumpled to the ground, holding his head. Dimly, as though through a long tunnel, he heard the clatter of the half-empty can as it bounced across the ground, and the sound of a concerned male voice – Kitamoto's? It would have to be, but even voice recognition was beyond him, when it felt like something was driving nails through his skull.

All he could do was curl, pressing his forehead against his knees in the hopes that the pressure and the dark would reduce the pain.

It didn't.

Then, as suddenly as it had descended, the pain disappeared. Completely. Even the headache that had been following him around most of the day was gone. He felt almost dizzy at its lack, and attempting to stand _did_ make him dizzy.

A warm hand caught him under the arm as he staggered, and he looked over to see Kitamoto standing there, looking paler than he'd ever seen his friend. The hand holding his arm gripped with a force that bordered on painful. "Kitamoto?"

He didn't reply. Just kept staring across the street with the sort of fixed stare that made unease blossom in Kaname's stomach. He wished that he had a reasonable excuse to not look at whatever had Kitamoto's attention.

At first, what he was seeing didn't make a whole lot of sense. Their class representative stood towards the front of where their class had been standing, looking around slowly. A blond boy and a girl with long black hair stood several feet away from him; two girls – one with shoulder-length dark brown hair and glasses, the other with a pair of medium-brown braids that framed her face – clung to each other a bit further back; another girl with short dirty-blonde hair who wore a bright blue scarf stood near where he and Kitamoto had been; and a boy with black hair tied back in a stub of a ponytail had stopped about halfway across the street. Of the rest of the students in the class, and of their teacher, there was no sign. _Did he take the rest on? It looked like he was going to wait, but … Or did everyone else decide to come get something to drink, too, and pass us without me noticing? _

He turned to look back toward the vending machine, but saw no one. He and Kitamoto were the only people on this side of the street as far as he could see in either direction.

"Where is everyone?" He asked.

Kitamoto's attention snapped to him, looking more than a little bit wild-eyed. "They just – disappeared."

Kaname blinked.

Across the street, the girl in braids started screaming.

"By disappeared, you mean –"

The sound of a rapidly approaching car distracted him. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the boy in the middle of the crosswalk scrambling backwards, but most of his attention had been captured by the vehicle, a four-door Yokota with a car seat strapped in the back seat.

An _empty_ car. No one sat in the front or passenger seat, or even in the car seat, which a dazed part of his mind noted was buckled together as though a child _had_ been in that seat until just moments before. It was almost as though they had just …

… _Disappeared? _

Then his self-preservation instinct caught up with the part where the car _was coming straight at him_, and clearly – with no one at the wheel – unlikely to stop any time soon. He shoved Kitamoto as hard as he could, the world snapping crystal clear. "_Move!_"

Kitamoto stumbled, and Kaname followed after, continuing to shove him until he started moving on his own. They finally stumbled to a stop just as the car sped past, close enough that Kaname could feel the breeze of its passage ruffling his hair. He winced as it reached its ultimate destination, smashing into the vending machine with enough force to almost drive it through the side of the building.

"Good thing we didn't want another can of soda." Kaname said, not even sure where the sudden flippancy had come from.

At his side, Kitamoto snorted suddenly. Started chuckling, then laughing outright.

_I didn't think it was that funny. _ He eyed his friend with concern. "Are you all right?"

Kitamoto kept laughing, forcing the words out in between. "Sensei and most of our class just disappeared, we just almost got run over by an empty car, I don't even know –"

"… Do you think they disappeared, too?" Kaname asked. It seemed like the most reasonable conclusion to draw. _… Which says a _lot_ about the last couple of minutes. _

Kitamoto sobered. "Yes." He said quietly. "I'm not sure what's going on. But whatever it is, I think it's affected a lot more than just us." He looked around, meaningfully, at the street that was far more empty than a street at this time of afternoon had any right to be. Another loud crash sounded off to the right, maybe a couple of blocks away, and Kaname winced. Another empty car? _Hopefully empty, not just missing the driver._ Aside from that, the only sounds were the girl in his class, still screaming, and her friend, babbling in a voice that was only a few shades away from hysteria herself.

"You mean … it might have affected the entire city?" Kaname asked. _Could any _youkai_ have that much of an effect? Instantaneously? _

"… I hope it's just the city." Kitamoto said, eyes still wild. "What if it's more than that? What if it's all of Japan? What if it's the entire _world_?"

"That's not –" Kaname started, then paused. _What if it's not a _youkai_? I can't think of any _youkai_ I've ever heard of who could affect the entire world. But if it's _not_, then …_ Subdued, he continued, "I hope it's not that bad."

Kitamoto looked at him sharply. "Do you know something?"

Kaname looked away. "No." Just guesses. Certainly nothing he wanted to share with anyone other than Natsume or Taki. _I don't want him to think I'm crazy._

Though with the world apparently also going crazy …

Kitamoto sighed and ran his hand through his hair, spiking it more than usual. "Fine." He said, a bit more of an edge to his voice than usual. He sighed again, and repeated in a more normal tone. "Fine. Let's – let's just get back to the others."

Kaname nodded, feeling guiltier than he expected about his silence. He followed his friend across the street, head flashing back and forth as he watched for more cars. Or. He wasn't entirely sure what the 'or' could be, and only hoped that he would recognize it if he saw it. The world around him still maintained that odd feeling of clarity, so clear he felt almost as though he was looking at it through a sheet of glass. And he couldn't remember the last time his head had felt so clear.

It felt like he was noticing everything at once; things he almost never noticed normally. The purple-ish blue of a small sprig of flowers that had pushed its way stubbornly up through the cracks in the concrete. The way the flag for a nearby ramen shop, such bright white on red that it almost had to be new, flapped in the slight breeze. The crisp quality to everyone's shadows in the afternoon sun. The branches of a nearby tree, bowing low enough to brush the heads of unwary passersby, covered in vibrantly green leaves.

He almost made it back to the remnants of their class before the illusion broke and he had to face the fact that the reason everything else seemed so clear was because it was easier to pay attention to those things than the handful of other crashes in both directions down the street. Or the way the sidewalks were completely bare of people, their small handful of classmates aside. Or the shrill, rhythmic honking near the edge of hearing that he suspected was a sign of yet another crash. Or the open windows and shop-fronts that were so clearly meant to have people standing in front of or behind them that he almost thought he could see them there still. Or the muffled sobbing in the wake of the other girl's screams.

Or the sudden feeling of emptiness, where before he hadn't paid enough attention to the area around him to have even thought to think of it as full.

Kaname shuddered, then did his best to push everything out of his mind as they finally drew even with the remnants of their class.

He recognized all their faces – he wasn't that oblivious – but would not be able to swear to the name of anyone but Kitamoto and Furuya, their class representative, whose sister he and Natsume (mostly Natsume) had helped with a _youkai_-related problem not that long ago. _Maybe he'd – but no, it was pretty clear he thought everything was a dream._ He could see no sign of the other boy's normally cheerful demeanor now.

Furuya looked at them as they approached. "Oh, good, you two are okay." He looked past them, and his initially hopeful face fell. "Were you the only …?"

Kitamoto nodded. "Was Sensei one of the ones who … disappeared?"

The braided girl choked back another sob and buried her face in her hands. Her friend rubbed her back, leaning in and murmuring something soothing, though Kaname had no idea what. He couldn't think of a single reassuring thing to say, not when so many people were just … _gone_.

Furuya shuddered, then plastered a smile on that even Kaname could tell was fake and spread his hands. "What you see is what you get, I'm afraid. Just us and the pigeons."

Kaname blinked and looked around. The pigeons were indeed still around. A handful sprung into sudden flight as he watched, and he spotted another couple perched on nearby power lines and awnings. _So whatever happened, it didn't affect the birds. Probably? Maybe there were a lot more birds around before, too, but … I don't _think_ so … _

The girl comforting her friend looked up, eyes wide behind her round glasses. "What's going on?" She asked, biting her lip. "Why is everyone else just –?"

And, unspoken but still clear, the thought that Kaname suspected was on everyone else's mind, too. _Why didn't _we_ disappear, too? _

Kitamoto shook his head. "I don't know." He glanced at Kaname, sending another thread of guilt through him, even though he truly _didn't _know any more about what was going on than anyone else. He just shrugged.

The braided girl wiped away her tears, straightened, and swallowed. Her face was clearly paler than it had any right to be, and when she spoke, her voice still quavered. "What do we do now?"

_Find Natsume_.

Kaname suppressed his urge to give his initial knee-jerk response, knowing that it was the wrong thing to say. Knowing that he'd never forgive himself if _he_ ended up being the one to turn Natsume into a pariah at this school, after all he'd been through up to this point. (Kaname might not be good at speaking, at pushing boundaries and asking pointed questions, but he was good at listening. And the rumors that had followed Natsume around, even by the time Kaname transferred in, had been pretty clear.)

(He knew, too, what life had been like for him in certain of the schools he'd attended growing up – the ones where his tendency towards illness had made him an object of pity and occasional suspicion that he was just faking it; where his occasional habit of starting at shadows gave him a reputation for being a bit strange and overly nervous. He thought he could extrapolate pretty well what things had been like for Natsume, who hadn't just seen _shadows_.)

"We should meet back up with everyone else." Kitamoto said. Kaname blinked, but lost no additional time nodding his agreement.

Furuya nodded too. "Do any of you know where the other classes are supposed to be now?" Everyone shook their heads. He pursed his lips briefly. "The hotel, then. It's a lot earlier than we were supposed to return there, but, well …"

The girl with a scarf opened her bag and, after a few moments of digging around, pulled out a cellphone with a sound of satisfaction, flipped it open, typed furiously, paused for a moment, punched one last button, and shut it. When she noticed that she had become the center of everyone's attention, she flushed. "I thought I'd let Mio-_chan_ know we're heading back to the hotel." She said, defensively. "She's in Class 5."

"That's actually a really good idea." Furuya said. "Does anyone else have a phone? Or know anyone's numbers?"

All but one of the girls turned out to have a cell phone, as did both of the guys who Kaname didn't know. He, personally, regretted for the first time that he'd turned down his father's offer to get him one for his birthday the previous year. It hadn't really made sense to him at the time to spend all that extra money when none of his friends had one, and he spent practically all his time either at school, at home, or with them, anyway.

_... Dad._

He froze. If this really _was_ wide-spread. If _home_ had been affected. His father was away on business trips a lot of the time – was, in fact, away on one at the moment, and not due back until that evening – and even when at home, they didn't always really know how to talk to each other. But he'd never doubted for a moment that his dad loved him, and the thought that he might have just _disappeared_, with no forewarning and no chance for Kaname to say more of a goodbye than the "See you in a couple of days" that he'd called on his way out the door …

He forced the fingers clutching his bag to loosen their white-knuckled grip, and wished that it was as easy to get rid of the panic that clawed at his throat. _Stop it. You _know_ he's not at home today, so even if one of the others lent you their phone, calling home wouldn't prove anything. _

It didn't make it any easier to just stand there and wait and worry. Especially as none of the texts sent or calls made appeared to be connecting. Fear bit deeper. _What if we really _are_ the only ones left? _

He shook his head. _Stop it. We're in too much trouble already to start borrowing it._

The car alarm from before must have shut off at some point, he realized, as he started really noticing just how quiet the street was apart from their group. No cars driving past. No people out and about – shopping, chatting, manning store fronts, the thousand little things that people did over the course of their day. He thought he saw the shadow of something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned, it was gone. _I wonder if the _youkai_ are all gone, too? Or if they're more like the birds, unaffected by … this. That might explain why my headache is completely gone now. _

… _If so, I'd rather have kept the headache. _

"Tanuma." Kitamoto said, quietly enough that even standing right next to him, Kaname barely heard him.

"What?" He didn't manage to keep his voice quite as quiet, but close enough that none of the others, increasingly frantically trying to figure out someone, _anyone_ who would pick up the phone, paid him any mind.

"You're really sure you don't know anything? Even wild guesses?" He asked, running a hand through his hair again. "It's just … you collapsed at the same time everyone else disappeared. _Exactly_ the same time. So if there's anything you noticed, anything that might explain why everyone else disappeared and we didn't … like maybe it was trying to take you away and didn't quite manage it, and maybe _that's _why you collapsed?"

Kaname shook his head. "It didn't feel like anything was pulling at me." He offered. "It didn't really feel like anything in particular, other than pain." He grimaced, just remembering. "I can't remember _ever_ having a headache that bad."

"Oh." Kitamoto seemed to wilt slightly. "Wait, do you get headaches often? I thought you were just …" he looked uncomfortable. "A bit delicate, you know? Depressed immune system or something. Are the headaches triggered by anything?"

"My immune system's mostly fine, I just take longer than usual to get better, a lot of the time." Kaname said. "Headaches are … not uncommon." He bit his lip. He _did_ know what caused his headaches – at least, most of them. _Should_ he tell Kitamoto? Once again, the fear of scorn or disbelief (he wasn't sure which would be worse) held him back.

Luckily, before his silence became too obvious, Furuya cleared his throat, and Kaname used that as an excuse to turn his full attention towards their class representative.

"So if I've gotten everything straight, it sounds like things are like this where classes 4 and 5 are, too." The upset girl – he _really_ needed to learn her name; it wasn't like the rest of them weren't also upset – shuddered and curled further in on herself.

"Rika-_chan_ and Yamada-_san_ are the only ones left in Class 4." The girl in glasses said; voice steady, but grip on her phone tight enough to turn her knuckles white.

"And still nothing from 2 or 3." The black-haired guy said, lowering his phone from his ear and giving it a black look. "That idiot Takaya never remembers to charge his phone, though, so maybe it's just out of battery."

Kaname couldn't help his flinch. He'd never really connected with most of his class; they all got along well enough, but aside from a couple of the most memorable-looking of his classmates, most of the ones who had disappeared were already fading from his mind. And he _hated_ that he wouldn't even be able to keep their memory alive.

But hearing someone mention one of the probable-missing by name … it made things feel more concrete. If this Takaya person was missing … what about Natsume and Nishimura? What about Taki? There weren't many people at this school he truly cared about, but he wasn't sure what he'd do if any of them were actually _gone_.

"Is Taki –" He started to ask, but quickly found his voice drowned out by his other classmates, all with their own variations on the same query. He looked down, letting his bangs fall into his eyes as he fought his impatience. It wouldn't accomplish anything for him to barge his way in and start yelling with the rest. Besides, they had made contact with class 5, so they'd know to meet back at the hotel. He'd see her again then.

_Or if not …_

He clenched his fists. _No. I _will_ see her later. I refuse to accept the possibility that she might – that – _

A warm hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up. "I'm sure they're fine." Kitamoto said, clearly doing his best to sound reassuring.

It didn't work too well when even Kaname could see how strained he was with worry. But he appreciated the thought. "Yeah." He agreed, wishing he could manage to sound a little bit less empty. "I'm sure you're right."

"Guys." Furuya was saying. "Guys." No one seemed to be paying attention. "GUYS!" He shouted, sounding even louder in the comparative quiet that surrounded them.

Once he had everyone's attention, he raised his hands. "Guys, I know you're worried. We all are. But pestering each other isn't going to accomplish anything but distracting those of you with phones from continuing to try to get through to classes 2 and 3. So just … be patient, please. You'll see your friends once we meet back up." He opened his mouth as though to continue the thought, then bit his lip instead, looking away.

_Or if you don't, you'll never see them again, anyway._

"So what _do_ we do?" The girl with the scarf asked, just shy of belligerently.

Furuya jerked his head in the direction they had been heading before everything happened. "Let's start walking." With a ghost of his usual levity, he added, "The hotel's not going to come to _us_ after all."

No one laughed, but Kaname could see a few other weak smiles like the one that had surfaced on his own face, in appreciation for the attempt if nothing else. And when Furuya turned and started walking quickly away, the rest of them fell into some semblance of order behind him. Though Kaname was not the only one who turned and gave their little patch of sidewalk a look before they left.

It just looked so … ordinary. An ordinary little patch of sidewalk in an ordinary little corner of a town that was quite a bit larger than their own, but still not _Tokyo_ or anything like that. _I always thought that if something crazy happened to my life, it would be in a crazier way. Not just … standing in the middle of an ordinary street, in the middle of an ordinary school field trip. _

… _I also figured it would be because of Natsume._

Kaname snorted, quietly amused for a few moments before the worry crowded its way back in.

_Natsume … you had _better_ be all right, or I'll come rescue you again, whether you want me to or not. _

He didn't know how he'd effect said rescue – whether a rescue was even _possible_, or if there was actually anything left anywhere _to_ rescue – if Natsume turned out to be one of the ones who had disappeared. He didn't know what he'd do if that happened. But he'd figure something out, because he knew Natsume would do the same if it was him – or Taki, or any of his friends, human or _youkai_ – in danger.

"Care to share?" Kitamoto asked. "I could do with a laugh."

Kaname shook his head. "Sorry. It's nothing."

Kitamoto's shoulders fell, and he looked away. "Oh. All right."

Guilt bit again, and Kaname looked away as well. Kitamoto was probably just trying to make conversation, and it was Kaname's fault that he wasn't nearly as good at it as Nishimura. _Hah. I wish Nishimura was here, too, at that. _ Amusement tugged at his expression again, and then he realized with a bit of a start that even though Natsume wasn't a subject he wanted to broach, Nishimura was completely fair game.

"I was just thinking … wishing the others were here, too." He said. "Nishimura'd probably be going off about something by now."

Kitamoto cracked a smile. "He would, wouldn't he. Joking even at the end of the world." His face fell again. "If he's even …"

"He's alive." Kaname said flatly. Maybe if he said it with enough force, he'd convince himself. "He's alive, Natsume's alive, Taki's alive. My dad's alive. Your –" he trailed off, suddenly realizing that he couldn't remember ever talking to Kitamoto about his family before. He didn't even know if he had any siblings. "Your family's alive."

Kitamoto peered at him, eyes narrowed with something that seemed unable to quite decide whether it was suspicion or hope. "How do you know?"

Kaname resisted the urge to hide behind his bangs again. "I don't." He admitted. "But … I'm not going to give up hope until I know for sure." And maybe if he said _that_ enough times, he'd believe it too.

"I agree." Furuya said. Kaname blinked. Last he'd noticed, the class representative had been up at the front of the group, leading the way in what he assumed was the general direction of either the hotel or the nearest subway station. This being their third museum of the day, he'd really lost track of their location, so he was glad _someone_ seemed to know where they were going. But apparently, sometime between setting their direction and now, Furuya had decided to fall back towards the tail end of the group, falling easily into step on Kaname's other side. He resisted the urge to feel trapped. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Tanuma?"

He blinked again. "Sure?" Furuya's eyes slid past him to Kitamoto, and he started looking uncomfortable.

"I'll go see if there's been any more luck contacting 2 or 3." Kitamoto said abruptly. Kaname whipped his head around, but after a significant look whose meaning completely escaped him, his friend sped up, falling into step next to the black-haired boy. He turned his attention back to their class rep.

Furuya still looked a bit uncomfortable. "I don't really know how to say this, but … you don't know anything about what just happened, do you?"

_First Kitamoto, now Furuya? Do they really think I'd hide something of this magnitude if I did?_ "No more than you do." Kaname said. "Why?"

Furuya shrugged. "You just … seem like you'd know, if anyone in our class would. And didn't Kitamoto say something about you collapsing just as everyone started disappearing? It seems connected, don't you think?"

"It was just a really bad headache. I get them sometimes." Kaname said. "… The timing does make it seem connected, but even if it is, I still don't know any more than the rest of you. I was a bit busy trying to deal with the blinding pain to pay much attention."

Furuya laughed. "That _would_ be distracting. What about your friend, Natsume?" Another flash of discomfort. "He seemed to know … things."

Kaname stared at him. "He's in Class 2. I have no more idea where they are or what they're doing" _or if they're okay, _please_ let them be okay_ "than the rest of you."

"… Right." The class representative looked briefly chagrined. "I don't suppose you know his phone number?"

"Neither of us have cell phones." Kaname said. "So, no." He looked around at the still-empty street. So far, they _still_ had yet to see anyone else. It was beginning to go from merely creepy to outright disturbing. "And … I'm afraid that whatever this is, it's probably beyond Natsume, too."

Furuya pursed his lips. "You may be right. But …" He shook his head and offered a thin smile. "Never mind. Concentrate on what we can do, and hope for the best for the rest, yeah?"

Kaname nodded. Feeling like he ought to say something else, he tentatively offered, "You seem to be doing a good job of keeping everyone in line so far."

Furuya grinned, though it rang a bit false. "Not even the end of the world can get me down." Their group started slowing, as voices rose near the beginning of the line. He rolled his eyes. "And apparently my job is never done." He raised a hand in absent farewell as he jogged back towards the front of the line, already demanding to know what the fuss was all about.

Kaname watched him go. _I hope his sister is also okay. He's already almost lost her once. _He shoved that thought out of the way, too. No point in dwelling on things he couldn't do anything about. _ First, we need to get home._

Not long after Furuya ran forward, Kitamoto drifted back into his former position. He gave Kaname another look that left him with no doubts that the other boy was curious, but he seemed to be willing to hold his peace.

Maybe that was why Kaname decided to speak. Or maybe it was just his irritation, as justified as it arguably was. "He also wanted to know if I knew anything about what had happened."

Kitamoto looked momentarily surprised, turning his head to stare forward for a long moment before turning back to Kaname. "Huh. Because of your collapse?"

Kaname nodded. "That and," he hesitated, _knowing_ this was opening a door he didn't particularly want to, "well, I do have a bit of a reputation for … you know."

Kitamoto huffed. "You and Natsume both. When anyone who actually gets to know you can tell that you're both totally _fine_." An expression flashed across his face, but before Kaname could figure out what it was, it disappeared. "I really wonder if everyone else's lives are really _that_ boring, that they feel the need to gossip about people they don't know."

Warmth suffused Kaname, even as he couldn't entirely suppress the guilt that accompanied it. He wished, sometimes, that Kitamoto and Nishimura weren't quite so normal. He knew Natsume reveled in it; would protect that normalcy with all he had because some part of him wished he could be that normal. But even what little Kaname could see of the world that was so clear to Natsume … it was scary, sometimes, but it was fascinating, too. And it hurt, now that he actually _had_ friends, not to be able to share it with them.

"… I don't think anyone's life is going to be precisely boring for a while yet." He finally said.

Kitamoto huffed a laugh that contained very little, if any, actual amusement. "There is that."

Kaname stepped around a large purse that just sat in the middle of the sidewalk, as though someone has put it down and walked off, forgetting it. _Except probably she didn't walk off. Probably it'll just … stay there, unless someone else comes along and takes it. _

He frowned and rubbed at his temples. _Stop it. Even if it's true, that's not helpful. … I wish I knew if we really _are _the only ones left. Was there an age limit or something? But in that case, you'd think we'd have heard at least a few babies screaming for parents who will never be there for them again._

… _Wow. Maybe I should just stop thinking altogether._

"Headache coming back?" Kitamoto asked, looking more worried than Kaname thought the questions really warranted.

… _Unless he thinks my headaches are a sign that something's going to happen._

And put that way, Kaname found himself getting worried, too. "A mild one." He said reluctantly. "Not even as bad as it was this morning. But …"

"You've had a headache all day? Tanuma …" Kitamoto drew the final syllable out with a very well done admonishing tone.

He rolled his eyes. "I get headaches all the time. Usually they're just" _signs that there are _youkai_ with nontrivial amounts of power and malicious or mischievous intentions nearby_ "that, just headaches. Not signs of an impending … _whatever _just happened."

"… I didn't realize it was so bad." Kitamoto looked away. "Guess I'm not as observant a friend as I thought I was, huh?"

Tanuma shook his head. "They've been happening all my life. It's annoying, but usually not debilitating." Anymore. Moving to their new home had been one of the best things to happen to him in a long time, and he still wasn't sure what caused that, whether it was Natsume's influence, or a tendency towards friendlier _youkai_ in the area – for some reason, they didn't tend to affect him nearly as badly – or simply that the country air really did help. Most of the time he tried not to think about it too hard, and just be thankful for what he now had.

He waved a hand dismissively. "I just don't talk about it much because it's not like there's anything that can be done." A pause. "… Hopefully, it's just a normal one." He added, reluctantly. "Although I'm not sure what _else_ could happen, after who knows how many people just … _disappeared_."

Kitamoto shuddered. "I'd rather not find out."

… Kaname could definitely agree with that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:** Contains spoilers for Furuya's short story, "The Ayakashi's Dream", and a blink-and-you'll-probably-miss-it mention of my story "Teamwork". (Not officially part of this universe, but I couldn't resist the reference!)

# # # Chapter 2 # # #

The other black-haired guy in their class stopped suddenly, and Kaname danced out of the way, just barely avoiding running into him. One hand came up in automatic apology, but aside from a quick, disinterested glance, the other boy paid him no attention at all. His attention seemed to be entirely focused on the phone in his hand, as he flipped it open and shut in a rhythmic fashion, as though doing so would make return texts or calls come any faster.

Kaname looked further forward, and saw that the entire group had stopped, clustered near a flight of stairs leading down to the subway. His headache spiked for a moment as he read the sign, but he was quickly distracted by the brewing argument between two of the girls.

"We should just keep going." The girl with the scarf said. "Why bother going downstairs when I'm sure the ticket counters will be empty? And there's no way the trains will still be running."

"You don't know that." The girl with braids said.

"Have you _seen_ the same things I have?" The girl with a scarf demanded, flinging her hand out. "Have you seen _anyone_ but us? Or heard anything but car alarms and TVs that don't have anyone left to turn them off?"

"No, but that just because we haven't seen anyone yet doesn't mean that _everyone's _gone. Maybe it only affected people aboveground."

The girl with the scarf pursed her lips. "I _suppose_ that's possible." She allowed grudgingly. "Would make as much sense as anything else. I still think this is a waste of time, though."

"Well, if we don't go down and take a look, we'll never know for sure." Furuya pointed out. "Sanada-_san_, you're welcome to stay up here if you'd rather."

"Alone?" The girl with the scarf asked incredulously. "I don't think so." She sighed. "Besides, if – _if – _the trains really are still running, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to make someone come all the way back up just to pick me up."

Kaname edged his way to the front of the group and looked down the stairs. _See? Perfectly normal. The headache's probably just because you're getting tired or something. _

It spiked again, and he winced. _Sure, it's a bit odd that maintenance didn't notice that one of the lights over the first landing had burnt out, but maybe it just happened …_

He looked up, blinked, and stared. The light _hadn't _burnt out. _So then … why is the ground so dark? _

He took a couple of steps down the stairs, dimly aware that his classmates had begun to do the same, when it hit him. He didn't know _what _it was, exactly; it didn't feel quite like a _youkai_, though he didn't know what else it could possibly be.

But what he did know was that it felt malevolent, and very hungry.

"Wait." He whispered, head throbbing in time to the beat of his frightened heart.

And that while the darkness had started out pooled on the far side of the landing, even as he watched he could see it stretching to cover the entire area. As though it was reaching towards him.

He licked his suddenly dry lips and tried again, hardly aware that he had backed up against the far wall, hands in a death grip on the railing. "Wait!"

Everyone stopped, turning to look at him. "What is it, Tanuma?" Furuya asked.

Kaname faltered in the face of all that attention. He wasn't like Natsume. He didn't call attention to the things he saw. He rarely saw them at all. To be honest, he'd always been more inclined to believe that he really _was_ just seeing things.

Normally he'd never say anything. Maybe to Natsume, who'd be able to tell for sure. Possibly to Taki, because at least she understood. But not to his _classmates_. He didn't want to be branded as crazy as well as weak.

Even though he knew, now, that he wasn't crazy. Even though he knew that the shadows he saw sometimes really did exist. He wasn't brave enough to face the rumors and scorn like Natsume.

But.

That shadow was dark, and malevolent, and hungry, and Kaname realized – with a soaring feeling that made him feel like he'd broken free of chains he'd never realized existed – that he'd rather be branded as crazy than let his classmates walk into _that_. Whatever _that_ was.

"I don't think it's safe, down there." He said.

The blond guy edged his way between Sanada-_san_ and Furuya, took several steps further, and peered downwards. "I don't see anything." And stomped. "It feels perfectly safe to me."

Furuya looked between Kaname and the other guy, clearly torn. "Inoue, maybe you should –"

"Oh come on. He's just freaking out over nothing. It's fine!" Inoue took a couple more steps down, and Kaname suddenly got a sense of _intent_ from the shadow, as it started thickening in the part of the landing in front of which Inoue stood.

"Please stop, I think it's noticed you." Kaname said, throat tight.

"What is 'it'?" Inoue stopped to ask, turning to face Kaname. "If you can see something the rest of us don't, surely you can tell us that much?"

Kaname shook his head helplessly. "I don't know. It just looks like a shadow. And it feels hungry." He held out his hand. "I don't know what it is or what it'll do, but … I don't think it's good. So can we just … leave it alone? Please?"

"A hungry shadow." Inoue snorted. "Well, even if a shadow's hungry, it's not like there's much it can do about it." He took several steps further, putting him now only three steps above the landing. The shadow had almost completely abandoned Kaname's side of the landing, pooling so darkly in front of Inoue that Kaname could hardly believe no one else could see it; it had also started creeping up onto the lowest step.

"Inoue …" Furuya said, still looking at Kaname. "I'm not sure this is such a –"

"I don't see any weird shadows, and unlike _some_ people I wouldn't be _afraid _of them even if I did." He jumped the last three steps to the landing. For a brief, surreal moment, Kaname thought he saw ripples in the shadow that pooled around Inoue's feet, and jerked forward several steps himself before uncertainty and fear forced him to halt.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

"See?" Inoue said. The shadow crept over the toes of his shoes, working its way up to his ankles, before it paused. Kaname watched, heart in his throat. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe –

"No weird shadows. And definitely nothing hun –"

The shadow raced up Inoue's body, enveloping him in less than a heartbeat. Kaname stumbled backwards, tripping over a step and falling, striking his lower back against another step hard enough that he knew he'd feel it later. His headache stabbed at him, still not as bad as when everyone else had disappeared, but worse than any time since.

A second, maybe two, he just sat there, looking at the human-shaped shadow. If Natsume was here, maybe he'd know how to fight it somehow. Maybe he'd know a way to get Inoue back out. Whatever had happened, he hadn't even had the chance to shout.

But Natsume wasn't here. And Kaname didn't know what to do, other than sit and watch.

Behind him, silence.

Then, between one heartbeat and the next, the shadow collapsed, leaving no sign that Inoue had ever been there at all.

"Jiro!" The black-haired girl he'd seen sticking close to Inoue ever since _it_ happened stumbled down several stairs, hand outstretched. "Jiro, come back!"

"Stop!" Kaname sprung to his feet; almost overbalanced, but managed to catch himself on the central railing. Tried to reach her, but the stairway was just wide enough that his hand couldn't quite reach. "It's still there!"

She jerked to a stop, arrested by Kitamoto's hand around her upper arm, and turned on him. "What are you doing, let me go! Maybe I can still save him!"

"You heard Tanuma. Whatever it is, it's still there." Kitamoto said, looking as pale as when the disappearances had first started.

"There's nothing –" Kaname started. "He's gone. The shadow's still there, but Inoue just … disappeared."

She rounded on him. "Why didn't you stop it? If you can see so much, why didn't you –"

Kaname felt like he had been punched in the gut. _I'm not Natsume!_ He wanted to cry. _I can't do anything on my own!_ "I –"

"He tried." Kitamoto interrupted, looking angrier than Kaname had seen him in a long time. "You all heard him try. Inoue just refused to listen."

"Then he should have tried harder!" She yelled back, voice breaking. "Jiro –"

Kaname swallowed, knowing it was true. He could have – he should have – done _something_ to prevent this. They were few enough as it is. They had to watch out for each other. And he'd been crippled by his uncertainty. He hadn't _known_ … but he'd been pretty sure, and that should have been enough. _I'm sorry._

"You really think Inoue would have listened?" Kitamoto asked bitingly. "Even if Tanuma had physically tried to drag him away, do you really think he wouldn't have ignored him and insisted on continuing down?"

The black-haired girl faltered, looking away and down.

The girl in braids took several slow steps down, entering Kaname's field of vision. She looked very pale. "That should have been me. If I had – I could have been the one who –"

Kaname met Kitamoto's eyes helplessly, over the black-haired girl's head. He didn't know what to say.

"Tanuma, do you have a headache?" Kitamoto asked. "Because that – it looked almost like –"

Kaname nodded slowly. "Not as bad as before. But …"

Kitamoto swallowed visibly. "Then, I think that might be what …"

Kaname looked back down at the shadow, still restlessly shifting around the landing area. "But, I didn't – I don't remember seeing any shadows before. Especially not enough to do …" he trailed off helplessly, waving back up the stairs.

"Regardless." Furuya interrupted. "I don't think it really matters whether it's the same thing as before, or some new and interesting way of making people disappear. Tanuma, you said it's still there?"

Kaname nodded. "It's still on the landing. It's edged up onto the first step there on your side, where –" _Inoue was._ He swallowed, forced himself to continue. "But for the most part, it seems either reluctant or unable to move beyond that point."

"All right." Furuya took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's just – get everyone back up off the stairs. We're clearly not getting to the subway via this entrance."

"Is it just on the landing?" The girl with glasses asked. Kaname looked up at the rest of their class to see her twirling several strands of her shoulder-length hair around one finger. "Maybe we could jump over it?"

Kaname hesitated. He couldn't immediately see a reason to reject the idea, other than his deeply-felt conviction that getting anywhere near the shadow was not a good idea.

"Best not to." Furuya said, after a moment. "Who knows, maybe it can jump or something."

Everyone looked at Kaname. He shook his head. "I don't know. It seemed to take a couple seconds feeling him out before it struck, so it _might_ be fine, but …"

"Have you seen any other … shadows?"

Kaname shook his head.

"Maybe it doesn't like the sun, then. In which case, we should be fine above-ground, but even if we made it past this one, there might be others downstairs. I don't suppose you can sense any others?"

Kaname shook his head again, feeling useless. "Sorry, I don't know."

Furuya's face twitched into something resembling a half-smile. "More than the rest of us do." He waved his hands upwards. "Come on, everyone, back up the stairs. Looks like we've got more walking to do than we expected."

Kaname inched his way back up the stairs, unwilling to take his eyes completely off the shadow. Kitamoto turned to go, but this time his movement ended up arrested by the girl's unwillingness to leave. "Yukimura-_san_ …"

"I'm not leaving." She said quietly, face pale and set. "He might come back. I left Kira-_chan_ and Akemi-_chan_ and Rena-_chan_. I'm _not leaving Jiro too_."

"Yukimura-_san_, he's not coming back." Kitamoto said. "None of them are. I know how you feel, but you can't just –"

"You don't know how I feel!" She shouted, wrenching her arm away. They stood there for a moment, staring at each other. "You can't know how I – I can't –" She scrubbed at her eyes. "I don't care if I have to wait forever. I'm not going to leave anyone again."

"So instead you're going to make us leave you?" Kitamoto asked, voice taking on that edge again. "Because we're not going to. We can't just – turn around and walk away."

"And neither can I!"

"He's _gone_, Yukimura!"

"You don't _know_ that!"

Kitamoto grabbed for her arm. She jumped back, misjudged, and tripped. Panic flashed across her face as she fell backwards, barely managing to arrest her downward fall by grabbing the railing. Her left foot touched down on the bottom step. Not a place where the shadow had reached, yet, but Kaname saw it starting to shift. "Yukimura-_san_, get away from there, right now! It's coming for you!"

Time seemed to slow as their eyes met. The girl smiled, and said, "No."

Kitamoto had almost reached her, but before he could grab her again, she took one step up, shoved him backwards, then turned and jumped over the last step onto the landing, near the same place Inoue had stood almost minutes before. She turned back to Kaname and smiled. "Wherever he's gone, I'll find it. I'll bring him – bring everyone back." She looked up, towards their classmates gathered at the top of the stairs. "I'll see you later, Keiko-_chan_. Forgive me?"

Kitamoto recovered; staggered back down the stairs, reaching out to her, but even as the shadow began pooling around her ankles, she stepped back out of reach. He stepped down onto the final step.

"Kitamoto, you can't!" Kaname's could barely get the words through his tight throat. He reached, again, helpless to affect anything from where he was, but too afraid to move closer to the shadow. His headache pounded harder. The part of the shadow on the first step began shifting towards Kitamoto's foot. "It's coming towards you, get out of there, now!"

Kitamoto leaned, his hand almost in reach. "Come on, Yukimura. Take it. You can still get out!"

She smiled. "No."

Black erupted.

"Kitamoto!"

His friend looked up towards him, face ravaged. "Why couldn't I –?"

"It doesn't matter, it's coming for you, get out of there _now_!" His friend froze, looking down at his foot. The shadow began licking at it. "Kitamoto!"

He scrambled back up the stairs, taking them as fast as he could backwards, and for a single, heart-stopping moment, Kaname was afraid it hadn't worked. The bits of shadow seemed to cling to his shoe, leaving shadowy almost-footprints on the steps that it passed. Whatever effect the thing had, though, it appeared to need a critical mass that the amount on his shoe just didn't have; as Kitamoto drew back even with him, the last fragments of shadow leaked off his shoe, slowly flowing their way back down the steps to rejoin the main mass. Like they knew where it was.

Kaname collapsed, shuddering, and hid his face in his hands. _Too close. That was too close. I can't believe I almost lost – _His headache still pounded its angry reminder that the shadow, whatever it was, was nearby, but there were no more spikes of the agony that had heralded it consuming Inoue and Yukimura. _I didn't even know their names until minutes before they – and now they're – And Kitamoto was almost – _

"Tanuma?" He raised his head to find that Kitamoto had crouched just on the other side of the railing, looking at him with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"

_The shadow! _His head shot up, but he couldn't see any additional change. He looked back at Kitamoto. "I'm sorry. I couldn't – I just – I'm sorry."

Kitamoto tried for a smile. It didn't really work. "I'm sorry, too. I wish I could have …" He shook his head. "Thank you for saving my life."

"I couldn't do anything." _I can never do anything. I can't even see well enough to see what that shadow thing actually _is_. _

"More than any of us could." Furuya said quietly. Kaname looked up, and saw him and the rest of the class, still standing there.

Kitamoto stood and held out his hand. "Come on. We should get going."

His friend's hand didn't reach, but Kaname made himself stand anyway. Kitamoto headed back up the stairs; after a last long look at the shadow, Kaname made himself turn away and follow. As he reached the top of the stairs, everyone cleared out of his way, looking at him. The girl in braids clutched at her bag, looking on the verge of tears again. He wondered if she was Keiko.

He wished he could hide from the looks. He'd never been precisely close to his classmates. He'd never really had the courage to bridge the distance, and they'd never really made an effort to come to him. He'd never really cared, either, especially now that he had Natsume and Kitamoto and Nishimura and Taki, and they were already more friendship than he really knew how to deal with sometimes. But now, as everyone _looked_ at him, he felt the distance more keenly than ever before.

"Right." Furuya said. He, at least, didn't seem to be acting much different from usual. "Okay. New rule. If Tanuma says he sees something hungry, avoid it." He met Kaname's eyes. "Tanuma. We're in your hands."

_I can't_. He wanted to say. _Can't you see? I'm not Natsume. I can't do this._

But Natsume wasn't here. And he was.

He swallowed and nodded. "I'll try."

Furuya nodded in return and turned away. "Let's get going. If we can't take the subway, we've got quite a bit more walking to do. Ogawa, Sanada-_san_, Watanabe-_san_, can you call around and warn everyone we've managed to get contact with so far?" The black-haired boy, the girl with the scarf, and the girl with glasses nodded. He glanced back at Tanuma. "I don't know how they'll be able to tell, but – tell them to avoid indoors, dark places, and just generally _be careful_, just in case." He paused. "And if anyone else disappears …"

Ogawa tucked some of the hair too short to fit his ponytail behind his ear and smiled grimly. "Everyone else should _run_."

For a while afterwards, everyone walked along in silence, broken only by low-voiced phone conversation. From the frustration in Watanabe-_san_'s voice as she kept repeating that she didn't _know_, it sounded like Class 4 was more than willing to heed the warnings. _Although with only have two people left … _

_At least Class 2 should be okay, even though we still haven't managed to contact them. Better than us, really, since they've got Natsume with them. Class 5 … Taki may not be able to see any better than her classmates, but she'll definitely _believe _what Sanada-_san_ is saying. She'll keep her classmates in line somehow. Knowing her, she might even have some sort of ward she's read about in her grandfather's books that could come in handy. _

He resisted the urge to dig through his bag to find the ward against possession that she'd given him a few months ago. He still carried it around like a good luck charm, if a very … interesting looking one. But whatever that shadow was, whatever it did to the people who it trapped, he didn't think 'possession' was the right word for it.

He ignored, also, the little voice of pessimism that pointed out that all that was assuming that Natsume and Taki were even still around.

_They are. They have to be._

He tried to pay attention to their path, to keep his mind off that sort of thoughts, but he'd been lost before and he was just as lost now. He looked around constantly, trying to catch sight of any suspicious shadows, though as the sun started setting, it made things harder. His headaches were the only way he could tell for sure if an innocent-looking shadow really was just a shadow, or if it simply hadn't bothered to start moving yet, so then he started second-guessing every mild throb, until he could swear he was worsening his headache simply from the sheer tension.

Then there was Kitamoto. No matter how many times he told himself his friend was fine, that he had seen the last of the shadow melt off his shoe before they even reached the top of the stairwell, he couldn't keep himself from checking again.

The fourth time it happened, Kitamoto said, "You know, if there's still something on my foot, that's something I'd _really _like to know, too."

Kaname started, gaze transferring from his friend's foot to his face. Who looked like he was trying very hard to look unconcerned at the idea that his foot might be playing host to a shadow creature he couldn't see.

"No!" He said immediately. "No, as far as I can tell it's completely gone. And my headache's mostly gone, too, which I think is a good sign?" He felt his gaze drifting downwards again, part nerves and part just generally being bad at looking people in the eyes, and forced it back up. "I just. You scared me."

Kitamoto looked away. "I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to." He huffed a quiet laugh. "I was plenty scared, too, when you started freaking out." He looked back at Kaname, then away again. After a long moment, he continued, "Tanuma. Do you mind if I ask something sort of, well, sensitive?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Normally I wouldn't, but, well, nothing's really normal about this situation anymore, and after _that …_ You still don't have to answer if you don't want to, though."

Kaname blinked, a bit surprised at the sudden flow of words. _Is he nervous? _"Sure?"

"That shadow thing, have you …" he hesitated, then shook his head. "Sorry, let me try again. Can you see stuff we can't? In general, I mean?" Kaname's insides froze, and he wondered wildly what his face looked like. Probably nothing good. Luckily, Kitamoto didn't appear to be watching. "Because when I think about it … you were surprised to see that shadow thing, and scared. With good reason! But you didn't seem to be terribly surprised that no one else could see it."

He laughed self-deprecatingly. "If I had been the one to see it, I probably would have wasted several minutes on that alone. 'Can't you guys see it? It's right there!' – you know, that sort of thing. But you …" he waved a hand, as though grasping for the right words. "It was like you _assumed_ no one else would be able to see it. So, well, I got curious. Especially since …" He trailed off. "Never mind."

"Since?" Kaname asked.

Kitamoto looked chagrined. "Never mind. I was just remembering … it was probably just my imagination, anyway." He offered a wry smile. "I hope you don't think I'm trying to call you crazy or anything. I mean, you're clearly not. If nothing else, _that_ certainly existed." He didn't gesture back towards the subway entrance they'd left behind. He didn't need to.

Kaname swallowed, and this time it was he who looked away. In the face of what he'd already said and done, it seemed somewhere between silly and actively counterproductive, maybe even dangerous, to try to hide anything else. _At least about myself. _

Still. He'd spent a lot of years, attempting to look and act and _be_ as normal as his condition allowed. It was … unexpectedly hard, admitting the truth in a non-crisis setting. (Natsume had been different. By then, he'd been certain that whatever secrets he was hiding, Natsume was hiding larger ones. Besides, he was _Natsume_.)

"I can." He admitted quietly. "See things. Not always, and never very clearly. But there's a lot out there that most people will never notice, and I can see … at least a little bit of it." His head throbbed, immediately distracting him as he cast his gaze around, trying to find the source. He thought this was a real one – he thought he was getting that same sense of malevolent hunger as before – but all the shadows he saw just looked … normal.

"Do you see something?" Kitamoto asked.

"I don't know." He said, more sharply than he meant to, most of his attention still on looking around. "I think – it _feels_ like there's something here, something like that thing down in the subway, but I can't pinpoint it. All the shadows just look like normal shadows."

"Furuya!" Kitamoto called. The class representative looked back. "We should probably stop. Tanuma thinks he's found another one of those things."

The rest of the class stopped immediately, and Kaname once again found himself the center of attention. _Maybe if it happens enough I'll finally get used to it. Enjoy it, even. _He was struck with a sudden mental image of himself, giving a Natori-style glittering smile to a group of swooning girls, and had to suppress the entirely inappropriate urge to laugh. _Or not._

"Where is it?" Furuya asked. He – like most of the rest of the class – was staring around, as though every shadow was about to leap out and devour them. _And for all I or they know, they could very well be._ "I thought they didn't come out in the open? Unless it's because night's approaching?"

"I don't know." He repeated. He walked forward, to see if there was something that he hadn't been able to see before because of the bodies in his way. Still nothing. "Something feels evil and hungry nearby, but I can't just – they look like ordinary shadows to me, too, until they start moving."

And as though it had been listening, the shadow of a nearby alley decided to do just that, extending out across the sidewalk a few dozen meters ahead, then beginning to ooze slowly in their direction. "There." He pointed. Everyone looked, and he immediately felt silly. _Great job, distracting them with something they can't see._ "That alleyway up ahead. It's stretched out across the sidewalk next to it. And it's moving towards us, slowly."

"Great." Furuya said. "How far out is it?" His voice took on an almost joking lilt. "And is it coming towards us fast enough that we should just run and hope we make it, or do we have a little bit of time to panic, first?"

"Um, to the edge of the sidewalk." Kaname took several steps ahead of the front of the group and peered, trying to get a closer look. "Doesn't look like it's leaked out into the street yet. And" He hastily rejoined the group as his presence seemed to spur the oozing in their direction towards slightly higher speeds "you've got some spare time for panicking, but I wouldn't use _too_ much."

"Hah." Furuya cracked his first nearly-genuine smile since the subway. "Okay, out into the street everyone. Down the center – if these things come from shadows, let's minimize the number of large ones we're near, yeah?"

"But what about traffic?" One of the girls asked.

Furuya gestured towards the street. They were within sight of an intersection, where two cars – empty, like they all seemed to be – had swerved and crashed into a head-on collision in the middle of the intersection, while on the other two sides a handful of cars idled, engines still running. A few had rolled forward when the feet holding the brakes down disappeared, but they were generally blocked in well enough that they hadn't moved much. Kaname found it darkly amusing that the light on one of the idling sides was now green. Presumably it had been red when _it _happened.

"_If_ there's anyone left who was driving," he said, tone of voice indicating how likely he thought that was, "I think they have bigger problems to worry about than a bunch of pedestrians in the middle of the street."

Kaname eyed the shadow. It had oozed about halfway to them, though it still seemed content to stick to the sidewalk. "Not to hurry you, but we should probably get moving soon."

"Come on." Furuya said, then turned back to look at Kaname. "The street is still safe?"

Kaname nodded. "As far as I can tell."

Furuya nodded sharply back. "Good enough. Let's go, everyone!"

Kaname didn't quite hold his breath until they passed the shadow, but he certainly didn't take a proper deep breath until – after turning and double-checking almost as incessantly as he had been checking Kitamoto's shoe – he finally reassured himself that it didn't seem to be following. At least, not at a pace that couldn't be easily overcome by their current walking speed. His headache, too, finally faded to the point where he was fairly certain that the cause of the remainder was nothing more threatening than stress and eyestrain.

After that, he stayed at the front of the group.

Not too long after he'd settled in near, but not quite beside Furuya, Kitamoto worked his way forward as well. Kaname greeted him with a grateful smile. He'd talked to Furuya before, a bit, but it was still good to have his one real friend in the class nearby.

Kitamoto returned the smile. "I figured you'd appreciate it if I made it easier for you to double-check my shoe."

Startled, Kaname actually laughed. "Thanks."

Kitamoto smiled back, strained but real.

His relative lack of headache providing him with at least a small feeling of security, and being at the front allowing him a better vantage point to keep an eye out, Kaname slowly relaxed enough to return to their previous topic of conversation.

He knew, now that he was right there at the front of the group instead of trailing along behind, that there was a good chance that the others (and not just Furuya, who sort of knew already, but _all_ of his classmates) would be listening in. He tried not to care.

What did it matter, anymore?

"The things I see ..." He said suddenly. "Usually they're not like that. There are some that seem angry or malicious, and they cause trouble sometimes, but I've never seen one that just ... consumed people like that." He considered Omibashira, and what Taki had told him of her first experience with _youkai_, and the things that Natsume sometimes inadvertently hinted at but always made a point of _not_ mentioning, and frowned. "Well, there might be some that eat people. But I think they usually have _reasons_, at least." He shuddered. "Whatever those shadow things are ... they're different."

"What are they, though?" Kitamoto asked. "And why didn't you ever –" He stopped, shook his head. "Never mind."

"The things I grew up seeing? I think they're mostly known as _youkai_. Though for the longest time, all I knew was that they were shadows out of the corner of my eye, voices coming from where no voice should be, and that if I spent too long around them, I'd get debilitating headaches. These things ..." He looked up. The sky appeared so normal, beginning to shade towards orange. "I don't know." He said, even more quietly than before. "I wish I did."

"… I guess there really is a lot more to the world than I ever realized." Kitamoto finally said.

Kaname nodded.

"… ... Real _youkai_? Like in the stories? _Tengu_ and _kappa_ and _kasaobake_?"

Kaname blinked. "I've never met a _tengu_ as far as I know. I saw something that looked a bit like a _kasaobake_ when I was younger, but my headache was bad enough that I managed to convince myself that I was just seeing things." He blushed at the memory. "All I could really see was its foot and a patch of darker shadow that I thought was its eye. It ran away pretty quickly, too. … I might have screamed."

Kitamoto snickered. "How old were you, five?"

"It was _scary_." Kaname retorted, playing up his reaction. "How would _you_ react if you saw a great big shadowy foot out of nowhere?"

There was a cough that sounded a bit like a suppressed laugh behind him, and Kaname realized that those last several exchanges had not been precisely quiet.

"Oh, I'd totally scream." Kitamoto said blithely. A couple more chuckles. Kaname forced himself to ignore his automatic defensiveness; his inclination to hide this part of his life. The laughter didn't sound mocking. More relieved than anything else. _I guess we__ could all use a good laugh._

"Or flail around wildly." Kitamoto added, warming up to the subject. "Like –" he stopped, suddenly, and stared at Kaname, eyes wide. Kaname shook his head, slightly; all he could think of to do, when he had the sinking feeling he knew what Kitamoto had been about to say. _Like Natsume._

_Change the subject, change the subject …_

"I did help a _kappa_ out once, though." Kaname said. "At least, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. It was so weak I could barely see it at all." He rubbed his nose, smiling at the memory. "Not so weak that getting punched in the face didn't hurt, though."

On Kitamoto's other side, Furuya laughed out loud. "You got punched by a _kappa_? What sort of crazy place did you live before coming to join us?"

Kaname blinked. "This was just last summer, during that heat wave. I ran across it on the way home one day, on the road down near the river." In truth, he wouldn't have noticed it or done anything about it if Taki hadn't pointed it out; she'd thought she'd bumped into something invisible and had been terribly worried that she'd caused someone lasting damage. But he wasn't going to mention that – if she also became generally known as someone who knew about _youkai_, the way he suddenly seemed to be shaping up to be, he wanted it to be by her own choice.

"No way." Ogawa said. "We have _kappa_ in our river? I thought for sure those were just made up!"

"What else have you seen, Tanuma-_kun_?" A girl, not far behind him. Sanada-_san_, he thought.

He considered. "I see shadows hanging out in the back courtyard of the school, sometimes. I don't know what they really are, though. They're always too far away for me to see properly. Or as properly as I can, at least." He'd asked Natsume, but his friend had just rolled his eyes and said that they were just a couple of mid-level _youkai_ trying to get his attention and to ignore them, _please_.

"At school? Creepy …" Another girl – he thought the one with braids? – said.

"_I_ think it's cool." Ogawa retorted. "I wish I could see them, too."

_So do I._ "It's not all fun and games." Kaname said. "The mischievous _youkai_ – which are the worst I've ever run into, thankfully –" _when Natsume wasn't around _"– always seemed to take particular delight in taunting me, since I could sort of see them. Pulling my hair, jumping out at me from around corners, that sort of thing. I guess once they know they _can_ get your attention, they feel the need to go out of their way to do so." _And that's just with me unable to see anything but shadows. _

"I guess." Ogawa said reluctantly. "Still sounds like fun, though."

"Sometimes it is." Kaname admitted quietly, thinking of time spent with Natsume, trying his hardest to see the world the way his friend did, even though he knew he was doomed to fail. "A lot of the time it's not."

"Do they sometimes take an interest in people who can't see them, too?" Sanada-_san_ asked, sounding hesitant.

He turned to look back at her. Her face was downturned, staring with suspicious levels of fascination at her hands as they fiddled with her scarf's fringe. "I think so, yes. I'm _really_ not an expert."

"Yes, they do." Furuya said unexpectedly. "Why? Do you think you met one?"

She looked up. "It sounds silly, but … when I was younger, I had this hat that I loved more than anything. I wore it around constantly. One day, the wind blew it off my head and I ran after it, crying." At Ogawa's snicker, she glared. "I was six, okay? _Anyway_, after I chased it for a while, it suddenly came flying back and landed right in front of me." She cleared her throat self-consciously. "I was so glad, I didn't really think about it at the time. And later, I figured it was just the wind changing direction or something. But I'm not sure it did. So I was wondering …"

"There are kind _youkai_, too." Kaname said. "I don't know whether that was one of them, but … it could have been."

"That reminds me," another girl said, "of this one time –"

To Kaname's surprise, almost everyone had a story.

Watanabe-_san_ remembered a period of several weeks shortly after she started wearing glasses, where every morning she would wake up to find that her glasses had disappeared, and they'd always end up having been hidden in a new place. She finally got so frustrated that she yelled at her empty room to _quit it_ one day, and after that, she never had a problem again.

Ogawa had gotten lost in Nanatsu Forest one day, and was found by a woman with cold hands who led him back out, but when he turned to thank her, she had disappeared.

When they all turned to the girl in braids, she shook her head and looked away. Kaname suspected there was a story behind that, too.

"There's a mound, on the way from my house to school, that's said to be cursed." Furuya said abruptly. The girl shot him a grateful look, and Ogawa nodded. He probably came from that area too; Kaname again realized just how little he knew about his classmates. The only reason he knew about the mound is that he'd been involved in the story he thought Furuya was about to tell.

So had Natsume.

He eyed Furuya, wishing there was a way to pull him to the side and ask him _not_ to tell the whole story. The class representative caught his look and winked. _And what does _that_ mean? _

"I entered it once, as a kid. There was this immense wind, and this _feeling_ ... I think that was the guardian of the mound, coming after me. If my sister hadn't been there to defend me, I don't know what would have happened."

"Can your sister see them?" Sanada-_san_ asked, eyebrows raised.

"Not as far as I know." Furuya replied cheerfully, then grinned back her. "She's a lot cuter than I am, though."

"Did anything happen to her?" Ogawa asked. "Hey, is that why you were so out of it for a while?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. She got kind of sick for a while, but it all worked out in the end."

"You should have said." Ogawa said. "We could have maybe helped out, somehow."

"Thanks, guys." Furuya looked uncommonly serious. "But, you know, it didn't seem so bad at first. And I didn't really want to believe that it had to do with that incident when we were kids – who really wants to believe in things like curses, after all?" Kaname slowly started to relax. Whether he'd understood the source of Kaname's tension or was keeping his own council for his own reasons, it looked like Furuya wasn't going to mention Natsume either.

The other boy laughed, bitterly. "Do we have a choice?"

No one had a good answer to that. Not even Kaname, who was fairly certain that whatever had happened, it wasn't caused by something as simple as _youkai_ or a curse. At least, he hoped that there wasn't anything like that that was powerful enough to affect an entire city, and potentially beyond.

Given how much he worried about Natsume already, he wasn't sure his heart could stand the idea that his friend might have to face _that_.

#

The next shadow they ran across had formed a dark pool around yet another crashed car. The effect was visible and unusual enough, especially combined with the pounding in his head, that Kaname had no trouble spotting it and directing their group to the opposite side of the street.

He breathed a sigh of relief once they were safely past, even though it had done nothing more than shift listlessly in their direction. He wondered who had been in that car, before. If perhaps they had managed to survive the initial disappearances, only to be eaten by something they couldn't see coming.

_Or maybe they could, and just couldn't get out in time._ He couldn't decide which would have been worse.

#

The sun had fallen below the surrounding buildings, stretching natural shadows across the road they followed, but it wasn't yet dark enough for the street lamps to have turned on. Kaname was flagging, exhaustion making him want to just sit down in the middle of the street, his throbbing headache a constant reminder of just why that would be a terrible idea.

_I have to keep going. _

He could feel Kitamoto's concerned glances, and hated the fact that he wasn't strong enough to hide how badly this was affecting him. His headache had slowly grown to the point where he honestly wasn't sure he _would_ be able to feel one of those creatures.

_But there's no way I can tell everyone that their one protection is hardly any protection at all. _

_Just a bit longer. I only need to hold out a little bit longer. _

He forced his head up, forced himself to keep looking around. Keep watching for signs of unusual shadows, even though with natural shadow stretching everywhere around them, he didn't know that he'd be able to see them, either.

Malicious hunger struck with the force of a physical blow and he stopped mid-step, suddenly far too awake.

_Where is it?_

"Tanuma?"

"There's one here."

_Why can't I see it?_

The shadow thrown by the building in front of them stretched towards them, towards _him_, and how had he not noticed when it was _this close_?

"… We should back up. Right now."

"All right." Furuya sounded entirely too calm. "Back to the sidewalk, everyone. You know the drill. … I can't believe I just said that."

"No!" Kaname protested, even as he kept backing away, dimly aware that everyone else was following his lead. "It's not – I don't know if it's safe."

"Can't you see it?" The girl with braids asked, the quaver making her voice unmistakable. "I thought –"

"It's all shadow." Kaname made a frustrated gesture. "If it doesn't move, I can't tell the difference. The sidewalk _looks_ normal, but so did the building."

"Let's find another way around, then." Furuya said.

They backtracked to the last cross-street, Kaname relaxing only slightly once the feeling of malice eased off. There were still too many shadows, and his headache was still pounding away hard enough to make it difficult to concentrate on anything else, and there was a sick feeling in his stomach that asked _What if you fail them again, like you almost did just now?_

The next block over, a park bordered the west side of the street; at the comparative lack of visible shadows, people walked a little bit less fearfully. However beautiful the sunset may or may not have been, no one was in a proper state to appreciate it.

"This area is okay, right?"

"I haven't seen or felt anything else yet." It was the closest to a reassurance he could give.

The park was far too small, not even stretching the full block. As they reached the next group of buildings – tall enough, of course, to cast the entire street in shadow – the group stalled, no one quite willing to step back into the shadows. Kaname, for all he didn't sense any malice so thought it was _probably_ safe, most reluctant of all.

Then street lamps started flickering on, and someone laughed, and Kaname felt something in his gut relax. With the light, he ought to be able to see any shadows that moved. _Maybe we can make it after all. _

"Are you doing all right?" Kitamoto asked quietly, as they reached the end of that block and continued on to the next. "You're not looking too good."

_This is the worst headache I've had in terms of both duration and peak pain levels in a long time. I'm getting kind of queasy from a combination of that and lunch being a long time ago. I'm frankly astonished that I haven't passed out yet. _"I'm fine." Kaname said. _They're all depending on me. I refuse to be anything _but_ fine._

"All right." Kitamoto didn't look like he believed him. Well, that was fine, too. As long as he made it. As long as he got everyone back to the hotel safely.

_Everyone who's left. You've already failed twice._

"Hey, I remember this intersection." Furuya said. "We're almost there, everyone!"

Kaname brightened, and knew he wasn't the only one. Those last couple of blocks, there was an extra spring in everyone's step. Even his headache seemed to have receded in the anticipation of _safety_, and the hope of reuniting with their scattered year-mates. Perhaps the homeroom teacher for one of the other classes had survived? Or one of the other teachers who'd come along to help supervise? _Any_ adult, who might know better what was going on and be willing to take control?

From the small courtyard it faced out onto, the hotel looked remarkably normal. Light even shone comfortingly down from a small handful of rooms. Briefly, Kaname let himself hope.

Sanada-_san _took a step forward, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted. "Oiiiii!" Kaname winced. "Heeeey, the hotel! Can anyone hear me?!"

Silence.

She sagged, and Ogawa patted her shoulder tentatively. "It was worth a try?" He looked around. "It really is deserted, though. Do you think –"

"We won't know until we look." Furuya said, with a glance at the convenience store that bordered the courtyard's other edge. Between the tall windows and the bright lights, they could all clearly see that there was no one there. _Unless someone was hiding behind the magazine stands, I suppose. But they'd probably have come out when Sanada-_san _shouted. _

He shook that thought off as they entered the hotel. They could check for sure later. _We'll need to do something about dinner, too, after all. _

No one at the reception desk. Past the lobby, the dining room also sat empty, tables and chairs still lined up in neat rows, but no food or dishes of any sort in sight. _Of course, if no one's been here since early afternoon, they wouldn't have started preparing for dinner yet. _

Back out in the lobby, they paused in front of the elevator, then continued on towards the stairs. Kaname knew, logically, that it was probably safe (as long as one of those shadows wasn't already inside), but it still felt a bit too much like being trapped, and it appeared his classmates agreed.

Halfway up the first flight of stairs, Watanabe-_san_ said, "We're on the third floor. If I recall correctly, guys were on the fifth?" Kaname nodded, along with the other male members of their group. "Then the lighted windows were on the second, sixth, and seventh floors, right? I assume we'll check those, too."

"I'm planning to check them all." Furuya said.

Eight floors of rooms. Ten rooms per floor. Most of them shut and locked, and the only keys they had were their own. The doors that had been left ajar they opened – never anything more interesting than piles of luggage – and the locked ones they pounded at, shouting. No response.

Kaname took to leaning against whatever wall was nearest whenever he had the opportunity to do so. What little energy he'd regained from making it back to the hotel in one piece seeped out with each fresh disappointment. But he _would not_ become a burden. He _could_ keep going. Just a little bit longer.

No one spoke as they looked at the last room – another neat stack of luggage – then trudged back down the stairs and outside.

Watanabe-_san_, Sanada-_san_, and Ogawa clumped about halfway between the hotel and convenience store, heads bowed low over their cell phones. The girl with braids stood a few steps away, clutching her bag and looking like she wanted to join but wasn't sure of her welcome.

Furuya and Kitamoto stood farther away, also chatting quietly.

He hadn't quite figured out his sensing range – especially when this exhausted – but Kaname was fairly sure everyone stood within it. The area was more than well enough lit that he could tell the only shadows in the area were apparently natural ones.

_Close enough._

He found a patch of wall to lean against, but soon gave up putting up even that much of a front. He slid to the ground, pulled his knees to his chest, curled forward to rest his forehead on them, and just breathed. Grey crept in around the edges of his vision; typically a good sign that he was on the verge of passing out. When his body was actually kind enough to give him that much warning.

He concentrated on the soothing pressure of his arm against his still-pounding head; the indistinct murmur of his classmates talking; the hint of a breeze brushing across his exposed arms. Slowly, the grey receded.

He heard cloth rustling nearby and a quiet grunt as someone sat down next to him. For a long moment more, he stayed in his current position, not quite sure he was up to acting normal. But he had a feeling he knew who it was, and his friend deserved better than that from him. Slowly, he sat back up, then turned just far enough to look. "Kitamoto."

His friend looked unimpressed. "Fine, huh."

Kaname managed a tired grin. "We made it here, didn't we?"

"… If I tell you not to strain yourself, you're not going to listen to me, are you?"

"Probably not." Kaname smiled wryly. "Not when lives are at stake."

Kitamoto looked like he wanted to protest, but after a moment just sighed. "There's not a whole lot I can say to that, is there? Just … you're not going to be any good to anyone if you collapse, you know."

"Don't worry, I know all about collapsing." Kaname said. "Honestly, I'm surprised I've held up this well." He leaned his head sideways, looking out across the rapidly darkening street. "Those things … maybe they're less powerful than most _youkai_. Except, to be able to completely consume a person like that …" He sighed. "I wish I knew more."

"So do we all." Kitamoto said wryly. "I still can't believe …"

Kaname nodded.

"Watanabe said that Class 4 managed to contact Class 2." Kitamoto said. "It sounds like they weren't nearly as decimated as 4 – probably about as bad as us." He sighed. "Aside from the girls they finally got through to, they didn't think to ask exactly who survived, though."

Kaname closed his eyes briefly. "Natsume and Nishimura are okay."

_If Natsume's with them … they _have_ to be fine. _

"I hope so." Kitamoto said. "Is –?" He started, then cut himself off suddenly. Curious, Kaname looked at his friend, just in time to see an expression that he thought might have been anger cross his face.

"What?"

Kitamoto blew out a slow breath, looked around as though checking whether anyone was within easy listening distance – no one was – then turned back to Kaname. "There was one day I stayed late after school, a while back." He started. It seemed a non sequitur, but Kaname held his peace – Kitamoto would get to the point when he was ready. "Back when they were having us do the career choice surveys, you remember?"

Kaname nodded. He'd spent a lot of hours worrying over his own. He still had no idea what he really wanted to do with his life. He knew his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a priest, though he'd never push Kaname into it. And it was honestly an appealing option. It would certainly suit his disposition and physical limitations better than he suspected a typical salaryman job would. And now that he knew more about _youkai_, he selfishly wanted to continue living a life where he could still interact with that world.

After that conversation with Natori-_san_ in Omibashira's mansion, he'd considered becoming an exorcist, as well. But, seeing the way Natori-_san_ acted …

_If I did something like that, it would be to help the _youkai_ as well as the humans. Like Natsume._

… _I guess it's all a moot point now, isn't it? _

"I went to leave school, but all the windows and doors wouldn't budge, like there was a typhoon outside, even though the sky was clear. I couldn't find anyone to let me out, but then I heard someone talking."

Kaname winced. He had the feeling he knew where this was going.

Kitamoto smiled wryly. "Natsume said he was just talking to an acquaintance and implied that he'd slipped out of the room before I came in. But he wasn't talking that quietly, and I could only hear his side of the conversation." He sighed again, and ran his hand through his hair. "Then there was the curtain that I swear was trying to strangle Natsume, and a bell I found on the floor that mysteriously disappeared at the same time as a huge gust of wind, and then Natsume was free. It could all be coincidence, and I mostly thought it _was_, but … after today …"

He blew out a breath. "There have been other strange things, too. Well, you know – you two have been friends almost as long as we have, and I sometimes get the feeling that he tells you a lot more than he does Nishimura and I."

_I wish._

"I wasn't going to ask, but … is that why you're so sure that they're all right? Because Natsume's like you?"

Kaname forced himself to meet Kitamoto's eyes, too tired to try to come up with a more effective lie that Kitamoto would probably still see through. And unsure whether he even should. "That's his secret to tell."

It was as good as an admission, and both of them knew it.

"… Heh. In a way, it's a relief. To know that neither of us are crazy." He looked back out towards the street. "Though I wish it hadn't taken the world going crazy to find out."

Kaname sighed. "Growing up, I was always petrified that someone would find out, and simultaneously convinced that everyone already knew. I didn't want everyone else to think I was crazy for seeing things they didn't. Especially not since even I wasn't sure that I _wasn't_." He smiled grimly. "When you're the only one ..."

Kitamoto met his eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something, so Kaname raised a hand. "And all I could usually see were shadows, and they usually weren't all that threatening. Most of the time, I could just ignore them. Plus, though we've moved around quite a bit, _my_ dad's always been there for me."

Kitamoto raised both hands in surrender, though he wasn't laughing. "I get it! ... Did you honestly think we'd abandon you?"

_You talk like you expect us to have some basis for comparison_. He didn't know about Natsume – though he had pretty strong suspicions – but for Kaname, at least, the friends he'd made here were the best friends he'd ever had. Even with the secrets.

Apparently, he had hesitated too long. Reassuring lies had never been his forte. Kitamoto rolled his eyes, leaned over, and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Idiot."

Rubbing his shoulder, Kaname smiled. "... Thanks, Kitamoto."

He just shook his head. "Both of you." He looked back towards the street and said more quietly, "I just hope they get here soon, so I can tell him that to his face."

"They will." Kaname followed Kitamoto's gaze out into the too-empty night, speaking with a confidence he didn't actually feel. _They have to. _

_... I hope._


	3. Chapter 3

# # # Chapter 3 # # #

Kaname leaned his head back against the wall, thoughts swirling idly. _The stars look brighter tonight. Or maybe it's just that the night looks darker_.

At his side, Kitamoto yawned. Kaname tried and ultimately failed to suppress a yawn of his own.

_We'll have to figure out sleeping arrangements._ He thought, gut clenching at the thought of yet another obstacle to overcome. _Maybe all bundle up in the lobby or something. Or __would__ a higher floor be better? That shadow didn't seem to deal too well with stairs._

He blinked and looked at Kitamoto. "If that shadow thing was so slow at climbing stairs, what was it doing on that landing in the first place? It must have been at least halfway up."

Kitamoto blinked back. "What?"

"The shadow creature we first encountered. It looked like it was just on the landing, and it took minutes to inch far enough up onto the first step to be a danger to you." Reflexively, they both looked at Kitamoto's feet, then laughed self-consciously. "And the next one we encountered stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, even though all it would have had to do is slide down. So how did the first one end up in the _middle_ of a stairwell?"

"Maybe it was there already?" Kitamoto suggested, then frowned. "No, surely someone would have noticed. Unless it appeared at the same time as everyone else disappeared, and just happened to appear there?"

Kaname nodded slowly. "It would also explain why I've never seen anything like that before."

"Maybe they _are _what made everyone disappear." Kitamoto said. "I don't know about you, but to me – to the rest of us – it looked like Inoue and Yukimura-_san_ just disappeared, the same way everyone else did."

"Well, I was otherwise occupied at the time." Kaname said wryly, suppressing the urge to wince at even the memory of that headache. "But if there had been _that many_ shadows, you'd think that we'd have seen more of them on the way here. To consume an entire city's worth of people, they'd practically have to be crawling out of every spare corner."

"True …" Kitamoto rested his chin in his hand. "What about –"

"Masami-_chan_?" Both their heads shot up at the unfamiliar voice. A girl in their school's uniform, her longish brown hair in a disarray, stood at the edge of the sidewalk, staring like she had seen a ghost. As Kitamoto helped him to his feet, Kaname suspected that they all had similar expressions on their faces. "Are you … real?"

"Rika-_chan_!" Watanabe-_san_ ran towards the other girl and hugged her. "I was so _worried_!"

The other girl crumpled. "He shoved me away and told me to run." She choked out between sobs. "And I did! I ran! And then I turned around and he was _gone_, and I was so _scared_!"

Watanabe-_san_ just hugged her more tightly. She turned her head to look at Kaname, and he looked away, feeling useless.

"… You're safe now." She finally said. "I am so, so sorry."

_As safe as any of us are._

"She was Class 4, I think." Kitamoto said quietly. "I didn't really know anyone in their class all that well. … I guess now I'll never get the chance."

Kaname bumped his shoulder. It was about all the support he knew how to give. "… Did anyone ever manage to contact Class 3?"

Kitamoto shrugged, face tight with frustration. "Not that I've heard. Hopefully one of the other classes did."

Kaname nodded.

Rika-_san_'s sobs began to slow, but Watanabe-_san_ still held her tightly. Thinking about Yukimura-_san_ from earlier, perhaps? Kaname immediately regretted the thought, feeling more helpless than ever. _I don't think I can do this alone. Can I even risk sleeping, not knowing what the monsters might be up to? … Can I manage to stay awake even if we _can't_ risk it? _

A nudge to his shoulder broke him out of his thoughts. "Stop brooding so much." Kitamoto said quietly. "You've gotten us this far. We'll work something out."

Kaname smiled weakly. _I hope so. _

#

"… Tanuma?"

Kaname turned so fast he almost gave himself whiplash, and barely had time to recognize Taki's face – fragile hope blooming into a sort of horrified happiness – before he found himself stumbling backwards, arms full of his friend.

"Taki." He didn't know how to do physical affection. He really, really didn't. But here and now, that didn't seem to matter, as he closed his arms around his friend and rested his cheek on top of her head. "I'm so glad you're okay." He had a vague impression that there had been others with her, who were now joining the rest of his class, but that all paled in importance next to the fact that Taki was _here_.

"Me too." She said, voice muffled. "I was so _afraid_. Especially when –" She stopped, and pulled away just far enough to look up into his face. "That bit about shadows that eat people. Was that _you_?"

He nodded. "We encountered a few of them. Lost people to the first one. Luckily, they're enough like _youkai_ that I can see them. Well, as well as I can see anything. So once we realized what they did, I was able to steer us away from the others. We thought everyone else should know, too. Even though –" He stopped. Taki probably didn't want to listen to him babbling.

She leaned her forehead back against his chest. "We lost people, too." She admitted, so quietly that Kaname had to strain to hear. "We ran into several of them, and every time we had no idea until someone else had just –" She stopped. "But at least we knew what had happened. Without your warning …" She shuddered. "When I heard it had come from Class 1, I hoped … but I'm _so glad_ you're okay."

"So am I." He closed his eyes. It should have felt uncomfortable, hugging Taki like this. He should have been worried about who might see, or what they might think, or whether Taki herself might misconstrue the gesture.

But at the moment, he was so overwhelmed by _friend_ and _here_ and _safe_ that he couldn't bring himself to care. And given how tightly Taki clung back, he suspected he wasn't alone.

Finally, Taki pulled back, smiling tremulously and rubbing at her eyes – though Kaname couldn't see any actual tears – and Kaname let her go. She caught sight of Kitamoto for the first time, still standing and waiting silently. (And, okay, now that the hug had stopped, _now_ he was kind of worried what other people would think. Not worried enough to regret it, though.) "Oh! You're Natsume's friend, um … Kitamoto-_kun_, right?"

Kitamoto nodded. "And you're Taki-_san_, from Class 5." He threw Kaname a speaking glance that left him no doubt that there would be teasing later, but all he said aloud was, "I hadn't realized you two were – quite so good of friends."

Kaname and Taki exchanged glances. He shrugged. "Natsume."

"Heh. For a guy that hard to approach, he sure has good taste in friends." Kitamoto said. "Taki-_san_, can you see _youkai_, too?"

Taki's head whipped to stare at Kaname so fast that he was afraid that she'd give herself whiplash. He shrugged sheepishly. "After I freaked out when that shadow started eating people, it was a bit late to worry about people thinking I was crazy. Especially since it was self-evident that at least _some_ of the things I see really are real." He smiled wryly. "I haven't talked about Natsume to the rest of the class, but, well … Kitamoto's his friend, too. And given the way Natsume acts sometimes, it's not _that_ hard to put two and two together."

Kitamoto struck his palm with his fist. "That reminds me! That one time, when he was acting like a girl?"

"And his eyes turned blue?" Kaname asked. Kitamoto looked blank. "Huh, maybe that was just me. Yes, he was possessed."

Taki giggled, then brought both hands up to cover her mouth, looking chagrined. "By a female _youkai_? He must have been _mortified_."

Kaname grinned at the memory. "I never got the full story out of him. Something about a lute?"

"So wait … I thought possession was usually permanent, or at least needed an exorcism to get rid of." Kitamoto said. "At least, that's usually how it works in stories. But Natsume was only like that for maybe a day."

"Closer to a week." Kaname corrected. "He just got a lot better about keeping her out of the way during school hours after the first day." He shrugged. "I suspect that whatever she wanted, he helped her with it, and that after she'd achieved what she set out to achieve, she let him go. That's how my possession worked, at least."

"Wait, _you've_ been possessed?" Kitamoto demanded. "How did I miss this?"

Kaname smirked. "My _youkai_ wasn't as girly."

"Still a girl, though, wasn't she?" Taki asked.

"… Yes."

Kitamoto threw his head back and laughed.

Kaname and Taki exchanged smiles of their own. He felt a bit guilty, remembering how worried Natsume had been; how frantic to resolve everything so that Kaname could get his body back. But it hadn't been so bad, really, once she'd been convinced that they really did mean to help. And it had been oddly satisfying, to take real, _material_ part in one of the crazy adventures that seemed to flock to Natsume.

_Plus, it was the first time I'd ever been able to see like he could. And yeah, I saw a lot of scary things. But I saw some pretty wonderful things, too. It was worth it. _

"And no, I can't see _youkai_." Taki said, responding to the question that Kaname had almost forgotten Kitamoto had asked. "My grandfather spent most of his life studying them, though, and I've read some of his notes, so I know a few things."

"I've still got that charm you made me." Kaname said. "I'm sure Natsume still has his, too."

She made a face. "Natsume's is fine, but yours – it's so ugly and scary-looking! You should have told me – I could have made you something else, something cuter."

"Now I want to see this." Kitamoto leaned in. Kaname dug the charm out of his bag, and Kitamoto reeled back. "Whoa! That really is ugly! Um. No offense, Taki-_san_."

She laughed. "None taken. It _really_ is. … You can call me Taki, if you want." She glanced out towards the empty street.

"Then you might as well call me Kitamoto." His friend replied. "Hey, I don't suppose your grandfather's notes mentioned anything about those shadow creatures?" He glanced towards Kaname, as though asking whether he had any better name for them. Kaname shrugged. "Or ways we could protect against them?"

She wrinkled her nose. "From the description I heard – which I should probably double-check with you, Tanuma; it sounded a bit garbled – I don't remember anything similar. I'm nowhere near done sorting through them, though. As for protection …"

She stared upward, clearly working through some sort of mental calculation. "I think I've got something that ought to work." She said slowly. "I can't guarantee it – it's a protection against _youkai_ malice, not … whatever _they_ are. But it'll probably be better than nothing?" She half-smiled wryly. "I didn't go quite as public with my hobbies as it sounds like you did. But you're right that there's not a whole lot of point in hiding it anymore. Especially not if it's something that will improve our chances of survival."

"I'd appreciate it." Kaname said. "I'm sure everyone else will, too."

"Who's been leading you? I should probably find out where everyone's going to sleep so that I can start getting to work on the circle, but I don't want to step on any toes."

"That would be our class representative. Furuya Kouta – over there, the guy with the mole under his eye and slicked-back hair."

"Got it." She said, then hesitated, glancing back towards the street. "Has there been any more news on 4, 3, or – 2?"

"4 only had one survivor." Kitamoto said quietly, nodding towards where Watanabe-_san_ stood chatting with her friend. "And she's back with us now. She apparently managed to contact class 2 earlier, so I assume they're on their way as well. As for 3 …" he shook his head. "Last I heard, no one knows, still."

"One survivor … and I thought that we had it bad." She shuddered. "Well, at least 2 should be safe. It's got Natsume with it, after all." Kaname exchanged another smile with Taki. It was good to see that someone else shared his faith in Natsume's survival. It made it easier for him to maintain.

"Come on." Kitamoto jerked his head towards the rest of the group. "I'll introduce you."

Taki smiled. "Thanks."

Kaname watched them walk away, for the first time scanning the group to see who else from class 5 had made it back to them safely. There was a blonde girl who he thought he vaguely remembered seeing talk to Natsume a couple of times, and two guys and a brown-haired girl with her hair in a high ponytail, none of whom he recognized at all. That was it. He flinched. _Only five people? _

_And with no one who could see, Taki could just as easily have been –_

_Stop it. She's here now. _

He turned his attention back towards the street, and the relative quiet struck him again. The last couple of days, he'd almost gotten used to the near-constant noise of people and cars in the background. Now if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that he was back home. With the trees lining the street, he could even hear some of the same gentle rustling, though of course not nearly as loud as home. Especially not when the wind really got going, and it started raining …

Homesickness struck him with sudden, unexpected force. Made unimaginably worse by the fact that he had no idea whether he'd make it home again, or whether it would be anything like what he'd left by the time he did. _Please be okay, Dad. I know you can't see, but you do have power. Please let that be enough to protect you. _

Overwhelmed by the need to _know_, he turned and headed back towards the group, waylaying the first person with a cell phone – Ogawa – that he could find. "Can I borrow that?"

"Sure." He said, handing it over with a shrug. "Do you know some numbers we don't? You should have said."

Kaname shook his head. "No cell phone, so I never bothered to learn any of them." He forced himself not to grip the phone so hard. "I wanted to call my father."

Ogawa went white. "You think –"

"It would be great – comparatively speaking – if this phenomenon only affected this city." Kaname said quietly. "But I feel like if it had, there would have been some sort of sign that something bad was pending, you know? This came out of nowhere, and it's affected everywhere we've been so far. I don't _know_ that it's broader, but … I can't ignore the possibility."

Ogawa reached out, as though to take his phone back, then hesitated and let his hand fall. "Go ahead. I want to – but it was your idea, so you should get to go first."

_It hadn't even occurred to him?_ Kaname shook the thought off and dialed, hoping that he'd remembered the number properly. In the year or so they'd lived there, he could count the number of times he'd called home on one hand. The phone rang, and kept ringing, as he counted the rings under his breath. At ten, it flipped over to the answering machine, and he sighed.

"Hello, Dad? It's Kaname." He turned to look back at the street again. "Stuff has happened on the trip. Um, if I'm right, which I hope I'm not, you probably know what I'm talking about already. If so, I wanted you to know that I'm safe. Please stay safe, too.

"It'll probably take longer than usual to get home, but we _will_ get back. … If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm glad, and I'll tell you about it when we get home." He hesitated. "If you want to call me back, you can use this number?" He made the statement a question, and was relieved to see Ogawa's nod. He held out the phone. "Could you –?"

He took the phone and rattled off his number, then, with a glance at Kaname, said, "This is Ogawa Junichi, whose phone your son borrowed. Um, if you find anything out about my family, could you call me, too? Thanks."

He shut the phone. "I hope you don't mind me adding that bit at the end."

Kaname shook his head. "Not at all. I hope you have better luck with your family."

Ogawa smiled. "Thanks, Tanuma."

He managed a return smile, then retreated back to his former position near the wall, not wanting anyone to see while he very quietly panicked. There were plenty of reasons why his dad might not have made it to the phone. He'd been due back in tonight, after all. If wherever he was had also been affected, there's no way he'd be back yet. Or even if it hadn't been, he could have just missed the train or some other completely mundane delay. _Or he could be … _

Kaname shook his head violently. _No. I'm going to believe he's okay until I have _proof_ otherwise. _

He sat back down, pulling his knees up to his chest and propping his chin on his crossed arms. _He's fine. He has to be fine. He's all I have left._

As soon as he thought that, he felt guilty. He had his friends. There was his aunt, several towns over. _Assuming she's not gone too._ Even if the worst had happened and his father was gone, he wouldn't be _alone_.

But it had been his father and himself for so long. Ever since his mother died, he'd known that his father probably would, someday, too. But that was _someday_. Sometime a long time from now. Somewhere Kaname could be with him, have a chance to say goodbye. Not six hours ago in a completely different town, leaving no sign behind that he'd ever existed at all.

_Stop it. He's fine. Just delayed. _

"You really started something back there." Kitamoto sat down next to him. Kaname twitched. He hadn't noticed his friend's approach at all. "Someone heard Ogawa calling his parents, and now everyone's clamoring for a chance."

Kaname tried for a smile. "You're not?"

He shook his head. "I'm worried, of course. How could I not be, when my dad –?" He cut himself off. "Sorry, it's not important. But … whatever happened, it's already happened. A few minutes won't make that much of a difference. And you looked like you could use some company."

"What happened?" Taki settled on his other side. "Did you not get through?"

Kaname shook his head. "Answering machine. Which doesn't necessarily mean anything – my dad wasn't supposed to get back from his trip until an hour or so ago anyway. But …"

"You're still worried." Taki finished.

Kaname nodded, not trusting himself to reply verbally. He tilted his head. "What about you, Taki? Also waiting for your chance?"

She looked away, the longer hair that framed her face falling across it and hiding it from view. "My dad and brother are overseas. The number's at home, but I never bothered to memorize it. My mom's probably still at work, and I don't remember her work phone either, so …" She shrugged. "I can wait."

_Her mother works this late, regularly? And her dad isn't even in the country? _He'd wondered a bit, when they'd stumbled by her house that one weekend, why no one else was home, but put it off as being not really his business. Now, he couldn't help wondering just how much time she spent at home alone. _… Though I suppose that doesn't really matter anymore, either … _

"Do you see anything?" Taki asked, pushing the hair back out of her face again. "Out there?"

Kaname shook his head. "If any more of those things are out there, they're doing a good job of laying low and looking like actual shadows." He rubbed at his temples, wishing that the remaining tension headache and dragging exhaustion would disappear as easily. "I don't feel anything either, though if they're out on the street, I'm not sure my range extends that far. What did Furuya have to say?"

"He agreed that it sounded like a good idea. I'll draw the circle once we have a better idea where everyone's going to sleep. Which he said he'd figure out after dinner." Kaname resisted the urge to make a face. He knew he ought to be hungry, but between the stress and his headache, food was close to the last thing on his mind.

"Hopefully everyone else will be back by then." Taki said. "I wouldn't want to have to spend the night outside with all those things around. And hiding in someone's empty house just seems …" she shuddered. "Anyway, that's around when people started making a lot of noise about calling home, and he got distracted trying to help manage _that_, so I suspect he won't seriously start working on figuring out dinner until that's dealt with. Which might take a while."

"I hope _someone_ gets through to their parents." Kitamoto said, looking back at the clumped remainder of their classes. "Ideally because nothing's happened to anyone. But even if it is widespread …"

Kaname nodded. He didn't want to think about what would happen if there genuinely weren't any adults left. _And not just because it would be comforting to have them around. The thought of all that knowledge, just … _lost_ …_

An even worse thought than before occurred to him, and he shivered. "Taki?"

"Yes?"

"Once we get back home, if this really _has _affected there as well, could you call your dad?"

She went still. "You think this is _worldwide_?"

"I don't know." Kaname said. "I really don't. I hope it's not – as terrible as it would still be, I honestly hope that the problem is local to this town. But if it's not …"

Someone whooped. Exchanging glances, they ran back over to rejoin the main group.

"Sorry!" One of the guys from class 5, with short, tousled, dark brown hair, said brightly. "It's just, I was afraid you wouldn't be there." A pause. "Yes, I know it's your day off." Another pause, and he sobered. "The thing is … something's happened, here. And we were afraid it might have happened back home, too. Are – is Mom home, yet?"

The silence surrounding the boy took on a more sober feel. They all knew why he was asking. They all knew what a negative response at this point likely meant. Kaname realized he was holding his breath, and quietly released it.

"Okay, well, will you call her? Just in case?" The boy asked, voice remarkably steady. "It's _important, _Dad. Everyone's – well, a lot of people have – disappeared, here." Another pause. "I'm not making things up! And no, they didn't just wander off, we _saw_ them disappear. Look, we all hope that home's unaffected, but … a lot of us have been calling our parents, and you're the first one who's actually picked up." Kaname exchanged speaking glances with Kitamoto and Taki. "Yes, I know it could just be coincidence, but a lot of them are supposed to be home by now, too."

A sigh. "Okay. Just, be safe, will you? The disappearances are apparently caused by invisible things that eat people. _No_, I'm _not_ joking!" Another sigh, exasperated. "Fine. _Fine_." Another pause. He sighed, rubbed his face with his hand, and glanced around, suddenly looking a bit hesitant. "Yeah, I love you too. Bye."

He snapped the phone shut and looked up, meeting everyone else's curious eyes. "Well, the good news is, my dad appears to be alive and well." He said, forcing cheer. "The bad news is, he's barely been outside at all. He hasn't seen anyone since this afternoon, but since he spent most of the day inside catching up on his reading, that's not actually all that unusual."

A sigh of disappointment rippled through the crowd. "Sorry." He said.

"At least it's more than we knew before." Furuya said matter-of-factly. "We may not know whether this phenomenon affected our town, but we at least know that if so, not _everyone_ was affected."

"… He's also the first adult." Kaname added. He'd mostly been thinking aloud, but when attention shifted to him, he felt bound to explain. "Well, in all three of our classes, the homeroom teacher was one of the ones who disappeared, right? So I was thinking there might be an age limit of some sort. Knowing that your dad" he nodded to the brown-haired guy "is still alive means that that theory's not correct."

"Actually, our homeroom teacher didn't disappear in the first wave." Taki said quietly. "She was just one of the first to get eaten by the shadows."

"Oh."

"… The point is, it's good news." Furuya interjected. "I'm glad to hear your father's all right, Shimoda."

_How does he know everyone's name? Maybe it's some sort of secret class representative power. _

… _Or maybe he just pays more attention than you. _He must be more tired than he thought, if he was starting to think thoughts about "secret class representative powers".

Shimoda smiled. "Yeah." It dropped away almost immediately. "I just hope my mom is, too." He looked around. "He said he'd go out, see if he could find anyone else around. I'm not sure he actually believed me about the monsters. … Though I guess I'd far rather turn out to have been lying than have this thing have happened back home, too."

A general murmur of agreement.

He tucked his phone away and shoved his hands in his pockets, clearly trying to appear unconcerned. "I can't really blame him. This morning, _I _wouldn't have believed me."

_I would have_. Kaname thought, knowing even as he thought it that the thought was unfair. These people – everyone here except Taki and himself, really – were just normal students. He ought to be impressed that they were reacting this well to proof that another world existed, intermingled with their own. _Assuming that those shadow monsters are some sort of _youkai_. Even though they're not like anything either Taki or I has heard of before, I think I'd rather believe that than believe that there's yet _another_ world out there that no one can see. Especially given how hostile all the manifestations of it we've seen so far are. _

"Right." Furuya said, interrupting Kaname's train of thought. "Anyone else need to use a phone?"

The blonde girl from class 5 snapped a cell phone closed and handed it back to her ponytailed classmate; everyone else shook their heads.

"In that case, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm hungry." He hesitated. "I think the original plan was to go out for dinner tonight, but that's obviously not happening."

"If it was, we'd be running very late." Sanada-_san_ said dryly, fiddling with the fringe of her scarf again.

A couple of people chuckled. Furuya smiled. "Exactly. Luckily, we've got an alternative right here." He jerked a thumb back at the convenience store. "Does everyone have enough money on them to cover it? If not, could the people with extra help out?"

Everyone looked at each other. Kaname saw a few hesitant nods.

"Why not just take it?" The other boy from class 5 asked. He stood off to the side, posture clearly defensive, his long fringe shading his eyes. "It's not like it matters anymore."

"Maybe not." Furuya agreed quietly. "But let's pretend that it does as long as we can, yeah? Maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a dream."

The other boy turned away.

Furuya's attention slipped away from him and travelled onward, settling eventually on, Kaname was surprised to realize, him. "Tanuma?"

"Yes?" He asked cautiously.

He made a face. "I know it _looks_ bright, but … could you double-check?"

"Of course." Hyper-aware of the four new sets of eyes on him, Kaname walked over to the convenience store and stepped inside, squinting at the brightness of the fluorescent lights. No sign of anyone, man or monster. He turned and waved. "It's clear!"

He ducked to the side, next to the magazine racks, as the rest of their group rushed in, quickly scattering. Behind him sat boxes of crackers and other non-perishables. _Probably wouldn't hurt to stock up on some of those when we leave in the morning. Not appropriate for dinner, though. _

He wandered listlessly through the aisles, trying to find something that looked appealing. Or at least that wouldn't actively turn him off. _Maybe if I were at all hungry …_

"So you can see those things?" He tried not to jump as the guy with the over-long fringe appeared next to him, an appraising look in his eyes.

Kaname grimaced. "I can see something. It looks a lot like a shadow, except it moves and if you stand in it for too long, it envelopes you and makes you disappear." He shook his head. "At night like this, though, it's almost useless."

"… I heard you lost people, too." He said quietly. "We started out with maybe half of our class left, but without some way of seeing those things, we lost … a lot more people than we should have."

"We lost a little over half of our class initially, but only two afterwards." Kitamoto offered from an aisle over. "It wouldn't have been any if they'd just _listened_ …"

"At least we fared better than class 4." The ponytailed girl from class 5 said, with a quick glance towards the refrigerated section, where Rika-_san_ and Watanabe-_san_ stood examining the _onigiri_. She bit her lip, then added, "I hope the same thing didn't happen to 2 and 3. 2 was doing all right the last time we contacted them, but that was several hours ago. Our only contact was through Hitomi-_chan_, who we lost." She shook her head. "It didn't even occur to us to make sure everyone exchanged contacts lists. And we never managed to contact Class 3."

"Class 2 should be okay." Kaname said, hating how it sounded less and less certain the more often he said it. _Please._ He couldn't bring himself to say anything about class 3.

Kitamoto's stomach growled audibly. He looked sheepish. "Sorry.Don't you have anything yet, Tanuma?"

Kaname shook his head. "I'm really not all that hungry."

Kitamoto frowned and chucked an _onigiri_ at Kaname's head. He caught it, barely. "Well eat anyway. Honestly, you and Natsume. If this store had any liver I'd sit on you and force-feed it to you, I swear."

Kaname eyed his friend. "Liver?"

"It's good for anemia." He faltered. "Which I guess isn't exactly your problem. But it's still good for you!" He threw another _onigiri _at Kaname. "As is food in general. So go eat!"

Kaname had to laugh. "Yes sir." He nodded to Taki's classmates and headed to the counter. From the small stack of coins sitting there, several people had already paid and left. He added his own contribution to the stack, making change from what was already there, and left, returning to what he was beginning to think of as "his" patch of wall near the hotel door.

He turned the first of the _onigiri_ over. Salmon. _Could be worse._ He pulled it open and reluctantly started to eat. He didn't want to risk Kitamoto trying to force feed him after all, if his friend came out and saw he still hadn't started.

Halfway through, his stomach finally decided it was hungry after all, and he practically inhaled the rest. He'd just opened the second when a third dropped into his lap. He squinted up at Taki. "Do I have a sign on my back that says 'feed me', or something?"

She settled down next to him, prying open a pre-packaged _bento_. "Can you really blame me for being worried? You look like you're about to keel over any minute now."

"I'm honestly surprised I haven't." Kaname muttered. From Taki's sharp look, he suspected it hadn't come out as quietly as he'd hoped. He tried to soften it with a smile. "Thanks."

When Kitamoto came back over, he sat a short distance away, facing Kaname and Taki. Kaname just nodded at him, his mouth currently full. His friend tore open a _yakisoba_ sandwich, putting a couple of melon breads on the ground beside him.

"Waiting to eat those?" Kaname asked once he'd swallowed, nodding towards the melon bread.

Kitamoto shook his head. "Saving it for Nishimura." He said quietly, looking down at his sandwich as though afraid to see Kaname's reaction.

"Ah." Kaname said, turning his gaze back out towards the street. Come to think of it, at the handful of lunches that he'd actually eaten with the other three, Nishimura had always seemed to gravitate towards the melon bread. _I wonder what Natsume's favorite convenience store food is. _

It sometimes surprised him, just how little he knew about his friend, when it came down to it. He expected, if hated, that Natsume would hide the important things from him. But even just little things, like favorite foods, he seemed to be just as wary of sharing. As though he were afraid that letting anyone know anything about him would come back to haunt him.

… _Hah. I guess I do know that he hates parsley, though, at least. That's a start. _

They finished the rest of their dinner in silence. Kaname was vaguely aware of the rest of their classmates exiting the convenience store in small clumps and scattering around the small courtyard area. All arranged such that they could keep an eye on the street, as though watching it would make their remaining classmates return any faster, and all in brightly lit areas.

With food in his belly taking the edge off his remaining tension headache, Kaname could feel his eyes growing heavy. He considered getting up and suggesting they all move inside for the night, but even getting up seemed like too much work. Plus, what if someone else (if Class 2) arrived and they weren't out here to greet them? He'd never forgive himself if something happened.

A sudden weight against his shoulder made him jump; it turned out to be Taki, slumping against him, eyes closed. Kitamoto laughed softly. "And here I thought she was Natsume's girl."

"What? No." Kaname glared at Kitamoto. "Taki's our friend, she's not anyone's _girl_. She's … Taki is Taki."

"She's also not quite as asleep as she looks." The girl herself observed dreamily, eyes still closed. "I can move, if I'm making you uncomfortable, Tanuma."

Kaname shook his head, then realized she probably couldn't see. "It's fine." He yawned. "I won't be responsible for carrying you in if you fall asleep, though."

"Mm." She made an affirmative sound. "You're not quite as much of a beanpole as Natsume, but I'm still not sure I'd trust you to carry me properly, especially not all the way there."

"Hey." Kaname protested. He glared when Kitamoto laughed. _Traitors_.

Effectively trapped by the weight on his arm – if voluntarily; he cherished the tactile reminder that Taki was here and safe – Kaname turned his attention from the street up to the sky. He was in the middle of his second absent attempt to count the stars clustered around one of the few constellations he recognized when he heard it. "_Atcchan_!"

Kitamoto surged to his feet; dashed across the courtyard and caught up to Nishimura before the shorter boy had had the chance to do much more than step up into the courtyard. Kaname shook Taki awake. "Come on, it's Class 2!"

She shot to her feet as well, suddenly awake, and with matching grins on their faces they ran over to meet Class 2, along with everyone else who had, with Nishimura's cry, also realized that one of the two remaining classes had finally arrived.

Kaname got there just in time to have a great view of Kitamoto grabbing Nishimura in a headlock.

"What have I told you about using that nickname, _Sacchan_?" He asked, his superior height and reach making it child's play for him to keep Nishimura pinned.

"I don't remember?" He gasped. "We were eleven, that's a long time ago!"

"If you can remember the last time we had this argument, you should be able to remember its result." Kitamoto retorted.

Kaname smiled. Watching them, their status as childhood friends was clear for anyone to see. As they continued bantering back and forth while Nishimura struggled to get out of Kitamoto's hold, his attention drifted, scanning the rest of Class 2 as they straggled up behind Nishimura, who had clearly shot out ahead with his typical exuberance.

There was the class representative, his curly blond hair sticking out even more than usual, seemingly unaware of the fact that his glasses were a bit lopsided. Tsuji, Kaname thought his name was. A couple of girls he'd had short conversations with a couple of times, when they'd asked him to deliver printouts to Natsume. Two guys he honestly couldn't remember having met before – and he thought he would have remembered the one with the buzzed hair. Maybe he'd only recently cut it.

Everyone looked at him, and at everyone arrayed behind him, as though they had been stranded in a desert and had just come across an oasis.

But none of them were Natsume.

"Nishimura." He said. "Where's –?"

He wasn't listening. But before Kaname could ask again, Kitamoto suddenly released him, looking around. "Hey, where's Natsume?"

Nishimura looked away, and Kaname felt his first jolt of genuine fear. He'd worried, but always with the knowledge that it was his own paranoia talking; he'd expected to be proven wrong. He hadn't expected that Natsume might _actually_ –

"Nishimura –"

"He's _gone_, okay!" Nishimura almost shouted. In the unnerving silence of the night, it had at least as much of an impact as one.

"Gone?" Kitamoto sounded blank. Though at least he could still talk. Kaname felt like he'd been encased in a block of ice; he didn't think he could have said anything if he'd tried. _How am I going to be able to do this without Natsume? … What am I thinking? It's not _about_ me. But … how can he just be _gone_? _

It was the fear that he always tried to suppress, whenever he saw Natsume running around looking panicked and wondered what his friend had gotten involved with _this_ time. (And wished there was something more he could do to help, but of course there hardly ever was.) Except infinitely worse, because this was _real_.

Nishimura ran his fingers through his hair, looking deflated and exhausted. "We think he wandered off shortly before … _it_ happened. No one remembers seeing him around, and no one _saw_ him disappear. But … we searched the entire museum. If he had still been there, we should have found him." He shook his head. "Then Endou-_san_ got the call from Class 5 about the monsters, and Hoshino disappeared … we _had_ to leave. There was nothing else we could do, and staying there was just killing _more_ people."

"None of us knew his cell number." Tsuji interrupted. He met Kitamoto's eyes calmly; apologetic but resolved.

"He doesn't have one." Kaname found himself saying. His words sounded distant. Detached. Almost like it wasn't him saying them. _What am I going to do if he's really gone? What are _any_ of us going to do? I _can't_ do this alone. _

Tsuji nodded absently. "We left a note on the front door to the museum. Just in case we missed something. But … Nishimura's right. We looked everywhere, we called for him everywhere. If he was still in the building, he should have heard." He inclined his head. "I'm sorry. I know you were friends. But we've all lost friends today. And we still have to … move on. Somehow."

_None like Natsume._ Was Kaname's instant, rebellious thought. He recoiled internally, aghast that he had even thought such a thing. Yes, Natsume was his friend. And yes, Natsume's power would be very useful in this situation. But that didn't make him innately _worth_ more.

It didn't make the fact that others had disappeared any less tragic, or make others' sorrow at their lost friends any less meaningful.

He just wished it did, because being fair hurt almost as much as facing the fact that he would probably never see Natsume again.

A hand clamped onto his upper arm. He looked down and saw Taki, clinging with a death grip. Her face was ghostly pale, and tears glittered at the edges of her eyes. "Natsume …"

Kaname extracted his arm from her grip so that he could reach around her shoulders for a proper half-hug. Silently. He didn't know what to say. There wasn't anything he _could_ say. He still couldn't even really believe it.

She turned inward, full-body hugging him just as tightly as earlier. Her head turned out, one ear lying against the left side of his chest as though she was listening to his heartbeat, reassuring herself that he was still alive. He could feel her shaking, but if she was crying, it was soundlessly. He tightened his arms around her in response. Focused on the feeling of Taki, warm and shaking and safe in his arms, because when he thought about Natsume, it was like a yawning abyss had opened up, threatening to swallow him whole.

"What are we going to do?" She asked, so quietly that Kaname was surprised he had heard. He didn't think anyone else had.

He leaned in, resting his forehead against the top of her head. "I don't know." He said quietly. _I can't do this on my own. I _can't_._ "I really don't know."


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter's a bit earlier than usual, but with today (July 1st) being Natsume's birthday, I couldn't resist. Enjoy!

# # # Chapter 4 # # #

"Natsume-_dono_!"

"Natsume-_dono_!"

Natsume Takashi looked around, trying to pinpoint the voices he was hearing. Hopefully his classmates would think that he was simply looking around in awe at the art hanging on the walls. A lot of which really was impressive. He wished he could have actually been focusing on it.

Unfortunately, life rarely worked that way.

His eyes finally caught on a handful of small _youkai_ standing near the far wall in an open space between two paintings. Flower _youkai_, he thought, based on the brightly colored ruffs around their necks that looked like flower petals. The tallest was perhaps the height of his shoe. Maybe twice that when it jumped, as it was doing now.

He glanced around to make sure no one was watching him too closely and meandered over to them. Just in front of one of the paintings, he sank to one knee, pretending to be fiddling with his shoe. "Yes?" He asked, voice as quiet as he could make it. "If you want your name returned, can it wait until we get back to the hotel? It's not a good idea to do it in public." For a variety of reasons.

Though he hoped that was not the reason. He'd seen and heard a lot about his grandmother in various _youkai_'s memories, and he didn't _think_ she was the sort to pick a fight with someone she could have beaten by stepping on.

… Unless it went out of its way to pick a fight with her.

"No, Natsume-_dono_, our names are not in your book." The tallest of them said, its purple ruff rustling despite the lack of wind inside. "I saw you once, at a distance, but I was too lowly for you to deign to fight."

Takashi considered, very briefly, pointing out to the _youkai_ that it was not _him_ who had been going around challenging people, but in the end decided to hold his peace. Convincing _youkai_ that he and his grandmother were two different people could sometimes take quite a while. "Is there something else I can help you with, then?" He asked. _Ignore them and walk away!_ His inner voice – which sounded suspiciously like a certain slacker bodyguard of his acquaintance – demanded. _No point in getting involved in their troubles. _

Then again, he always ignored Sensei, too.

"Natsume-_dono_ is so benevolent!"

"We do not deserve Natsume-_dono_'s regard!"

He sighed inwardly. _This might take a while. _

"Come with us, please, Natsume-_dono_!"

"What, right now?" He looked back at his class. About half of them had disappeared around the corner into the next room; the rest still loitered around the area. Luckily, they still seemed not to be paying much attention to him, given that he'd now been 'fiddling with his shoe' for an awkwardly long time. "I can't … I need to stick with my class. If not, I'll get lost, and my friends will worry, and …" he shook his head. Clearly nothing he was saying was sinking in. "Look, if you can find me later today, after dinner, I should have some free time then."

"No!"

"Natsume-_dono_ must follow us now!"

"Natsume-_dono_ is in great danger if she stays!"

Two of the little flower _youkai_ ran over and started tugging on his pants leg. He looked down at them, bemused and starting to get ever so slightly worried. "What sort of danger? If it's a threat to my classmates, that's all the more reason for me to stay here." He wasn't sure what he'd be able to do to protect them, or how he'd explain it away, but … he'd cross those bridges when he came to them.

"But a great danger approaches, Natsume-_dono_!"

"Natsume-_dono_ will not be safe if she stays here!"

"Yes, you said that already." … _Why couldn't I be having this conversation with more articulate _youkai_?_ He stood. "But if there's danger, I have friends who need to be protected. And they won't be able to do it by themselves." His eyes drifted over the three flower _youkai_, something niggling at him. _Whatever it is, it's probably not that important. _He bowed his head briefly in their direction – a bit strange-appearing from the outside, perhaps, but not _too_ overt. "Thank you for the warning."

As he turned to leave, they set up another outcry, this time one he was determined to ignore.

A much deeper voice said "I apologize for this."

The back of his head exploded with pain. He fell forward. As he fell, he dimly saw the last of his class turning the corner out of sight. _Good, at least they didn't see me trip over nothing …_

The world went black.

#

The first thing he noticed as he began to swim back up out of unconsciousness was just how much the back of his head hurt. Memory delayed its arrival slightly, giving him time to feel the damp ground beneath him – great, there went another uniform; he was surprised he hadn't given Touko-_san_ fits yet, but she still wouldn't let him do more than help hang the laundry – and smell the deep, clean scents of forest around him.

In a way, it was comforting. He'd lived in cities plenty of times over the years – probably more time, overall, than he'd spent in the country. But he'd always felt a bit stifled by them. There were just _so many_ people, and they tended to be harsher. Slightly fewer _youkai_, but those who stayed in the city inevitably seemed to adapt to it, also becoming larger, angrier, less inclined towards peaceful coexistence. Even the ones who adapted to the city never seemed to quite forget that _they_ had been there first.

Not to mention that narrow streets and alleyways were a _lot_ harder to effectively run away through than open fields. And a lot more likely to contain uninvolved bystanders who would just perpetuate the rumors that there was something not quite right about that Natsume kid.

Still. The last he remembered he _had_ been in a city, so it was more than a little bit upsetting to find himself in a forest instead.

_Maybe it's just a park? _

Takashi suspected that he was not going to be so lucky.

Seeing no point in playing possum any further – at least if his kidnapper had been associated with the flower _youkai_, it seemed unlikely that it was out to harm him – he sat up, rubbing the back of his head and groaning quietly as he looked around.

_The undergrowth looks too thick to be a park. __... Great, now I'll _never_ make it back in time to keep people from worrying_. He looked around, but didn't immediately see anyone. "Hello?" He called. Quietly. No point in attracting any _more_ attention. Then, resigned, "Was there something else you needed from me?"

"Natsume-_dono_!"

"Natsume-_dono_ is awake!"

"Natsume-_dono_ is so kind!"

"We wish nothing of Natsume-_dono_ but her continued well-being!"

And there they were – a much larger crowd of flower _youkai_, popping out of the undergrowth like actual flowers.

"In that case ..." He levered himself to his feet, swayed a moment, then steadied. _Not going to want to move too fast for a while, but could be worse_. He decided after a moment of consideration. His head pounded distractingly. "I should get back before someone files a missing person report on me."

He still didn't quite know how to react to the idea that there would probably be multiple people doing it, and that they wouldn't be doing it simply out of a sense of obligation. Or that he actively wanted to return, rather than simply feeling like he ought to, to avoid causing trouble. It was hard enough to believe that that truly was the case.

"No! Natsume-_dono_ mustn't leave!"

"It is still not safe!"

"Natsume-_dono_ will be in danger!"

He sat back down, partly so that he could look at them without craning his neck (as much) and partly because his head really was hurting abominably. "Can you tell me more about what this danger is?" He asked. "I appreciate you trying to protect me, but I need to go back to the hu – to the _other _humans eventually."

Several of the flower _youkai_ cowered. "Very bad things!" The purple-ruffed one said. "We don't know what exactly they are, but they are very bad! They will eat Natsume-_dono_, eat him and eat him until nothing remains!"

"I've fought things that have tried to eat me before." He said. "What makes these different?" If they were, in fact, different, and it wasn't just these _youkai_ overreacting.

"We don't know." A pink-ruffed one said, petals drooping.

"But they are different."

"Dangerous."

"They should not be here."

"They should not be anywhere."

He blinked in the face of the blizzard of comments. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen _youkai_ this frightened. Uncertainty touched him. If they were right, and something terrible really was on the move …

_All the more reason why I must return._ He thought. _If _I _can't deal with it, what hope do the rest of my classmates have? At least I _might_ be able to help. Somehow. _

_I wish I had a cell phone._ He knew some of his classmates had them; had seen girls comparing and giggling over the charms they hung from them.

He'd never really seen a need for one, before – the only times he was away from people for long periods of time were typically times when he _didn't_ want to have an easy way of anyone contacting him. But even if he had wanted one, he couldn't see himself asking the Fujiwaras for it. Not when they'd already given him so much.

Still, it really would have been useful, just now. He could call Tanuma or Taki, let them know that _something_ might happen even if he didn't know what or when. It would give him something to do instead of just sitting here with a pounding head, trying to reason with a group of _youkai_ who could fit in the palm of his hand.

_Or I could just go tell them myself. _He stood again. "I thank you for the warnings and for your concern. But I'm leaving now." He didn't know which direction to go – where he was, where the city was, anything. But he could pick a direction and start walking, and eventually he'd get _somewhere_. He looked upwards, at the trees surrounding him, then downwards, at the loamy ground, devoid of anything remotely resembling a human-made path, sloping gently away from him. _ Downhill seems like the best bet. _ He decided, turned, and started carefully walking away.

Protests arose behind him, but they weren't saying anything new, so he did his best to ignore them. It took most of his concentration to figure out the best path forwards and keep a watch for anything that might provide a more concrete hint to his current location.

Not so much concentration that he didn't sense the larger _youkai_ coming, this time. He ducked out of the way. _Hasn't it heard that too many strikes to the head can be dangerous?_ Though he preferred to talk things out when he could, he doubted that would work this time. So he didn't spare too many regrets as he whirled and punched upwards, striking the _youkai_ – large, covered in shaggy greyish fur, wearing a mask with the character for 'hair' over its face – square in the chin, with enough force to knock him over and, Takashi thought, out.

The flower _youkai_ scattered out of the way as the shaggy _youkai_ fell, their protests about Takashi's actions briefly morphing into shouts of worry and encouragement to the shaggy _youkai_. He turned away and started walking faster. Hopefully by the time they started paying attention to him again, he'd be far enough away that they'd have a harder time finding him again. _Though given that they found me in the middle of an _art museum_ to begin with …_

He shook his head. No point in worrying about it at the moment.

Time slipped away as he concentrated on putting one foot ahead of the other. He resisted the urge to run – that always seemed to end up with him tumbling at some point or another, and injuring himself further at this point seemed like a bad plan. Instead, he tried to take what enjoyment he could of the cool spring air; the vibrant green that unfurled around him. Tried to ignore the worry that clenched at his gut when he thought about the nameless danger that the flower _youkai_ had been so afraid of, and when he thought of his friends or his family – if it reached that far, which he dearly hoped it didn't – being left to face that alone.

_Hopefully they're just overreacting to something simple. The world must be awfully big and scary already, when you're that small and seemingly defenseless._ But then there was their giant shaggy friend to consider as well. Takashi didn't think it would scare nearly as easily.

_Nothing I can do but push forward_.

When his breath started coming as heavily as if he had been running, and he found himself increasingly placing a hand against the trees he passed to help regain his balance, he made himself sit down and take a break. He leaned his back against the trunk of a nearby tree and looked upwards, grimacing as the knot on the back of his head rubbed against it. The foliage overhead was thick, but not so thick that he couldn't see glimpses of blue and fluffy white peeking through the green. The forest was thick enough that it was impossible to tell where the sun was in the sky – aside from "not overhead" – but from the hesitant sort of rumbling that his stomach had started to engage in, he suspected that it sometime in late afternoon.

Something niggled at him; something not quite right about the situation. (Above and beyond the fact that he'd been kidnapped and stranded in the middle of an unfamiliar forest; he wouldn't say that that was quite business as usual, but it certainly wasn't as unusual an occasion as it ought to have been.) As he sat there, staring at the sky, it slowly dawned on him.

_There's no one else around._

In particular, no _youkai_. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in a forested area and been left completely alone. Even if they weren't actively pursuing him, there always seemed to be _youkai_ of _some_ sort around, going about their own business or staring at him curiously or even more obviously attempting to avoid him. (He'd never quite understood why, if they recognized him, they thought that he couldn't see and hear them flapping about, shouting about "Natsume Reiko" and "run away!")

But even though he looked closer, now, into corners and at heights that he normally mostly ignored, he still couldn't see any. It was a bit creepy, to be honest.

_Hiding? Or maybe they ran away too? _He shook his head. _Does it matter?_

Perhaps it did, if it meant that all the other_ youkai _were also running scared. But it didn't change the fact that he needed to get back to his friends.

Using the tree for balance, he stood back up and started walking again, still keeping to the steepest downhill slope – though none of them were precisely "steep" – whenever he had any doubt about his direction. As long as he wasn't going deeper into the mountains, he ought to hit civilization again eventually. He hadn't seen any flying _youkai_ with them, so theoretically he couldn't be _that_ far away from where he'd taken.

The thought of flight brought a memory of fur so white it nearly shone; of a warm back he pressed his face to as much for comfort as because it was more comfortable to keep it out of the wind. For a moment, he could almost feel the fur running through his fingers. Then the sensation slipped away along with the memory, leaving him feeling strangely desolate. _Sensei_.

He wished he hadn't managed to convince his bodyguard to stay home. He could really have used him here, and not just because it would be terribly convenient to have him just change into his great beast form and fly them back. Even if he'd probably have been complaining bitterly the entire way back about Takashi's stupidity at managing to get himself kidnapped.

There had been times in his life when he had wanted nothing more than to be alone. No more _youkai_. No more people he was nothing more than a strange, freakish burden to. He still felt like that, occasionally, though for the most part his dream had changed to one of self-sufficiency. He wanted to maintain the bonds he'd built, with _youkai _and human alike. Even if sometimes he railed at how _hard _it was, to know how to act. To act even when he _didn't_ know how, and just hope that it would be close enough.

But then he'd remember what Natori-_san_ said at Omibashira's mansion – _But I think it's necessary for you_ – and vow to persevere. He didn't want to turn out like his grandmother or like Natori, seeing _youkai_ as enemies or tools; humans as antagonists or people to be kept at arms' length. (He wasn't _sure_ that Natori-_san_ was like that too. But he never seemed to talk about anyone else in his life, and that dazzling smile of his seemed designed to push people away just as much as it drew them in.)

Still. Some part of himself, he had thought, still secretly craved the simplicity of being alone.

He found himself smiling, though he could not have named the emotion behind the smile if anyone had asked. _If I wanted to be alone, then why does it feel so lonely?_

#

When his stomach's grumbles turned from tentative to insistent, he gave in and found a medium-sized rock to sit on, then dug into his fanny pack.

Even though from the familiar weight he'd known it was still there, it was a relief to see the Book of Friends safe. His goal at the moment, though, was the energy bar tucked in behind it. He sighed in relief. He had thought he'd remembered tucking in before he'd left the hotel that morning. The first day of the school trip had been utterly exhausting, between walking around looking at museums all day, trying to act 'normal', and still sneaking off to return enough names that he almost keeled over.

He _really_ wondered what his grandmother had gotten up to, sometimes. Had she had nothing better to do than travel around to neighboring towns and beat up all the youkai there, too?

He was just glad that none of those whose names he'd returned had turned out to be malicious. If he got himself killed by some low-level _youkai_ when Sensei wasn't there to berate him for it, he'd probably find a way to resurrect him just so that he could do so.

_Though at least _this_ mess is _not_ my fault. I think. _

He chewed his way through the energy bar. He'd planned for it to be either a midafternoon or a late night snack, in the hopes that it would help restore some of his flagging energy. He'd caught both Tanuma and Taki giving him suspicious and concerned glances the previous night, as though wondering what sort of craziness he had gotten himself involved in now, and wondering how they could convince him to let them help.

He smiled down at the empty wrapper. _I don't really deserve them, do I? _

He stood, crumpling the wrapper and, after a moment's thought, shoving it back down into a corner of his fanny pack. He wasn't typically the sort to litter in the first place, but in a place like this, where for all he knew he was the first human to set foot there in years, it seemed especially wrong. _At least they're not here with me now. They're safe, back in town._

The words of the flower _youkai_ drifted back to him, and he shuddered at the sudden sense of foreboding. _Please let them be okay. Please let whatever those _youkai_ are so worried about have been a threat to me only. I don't think I could bear it if … _

… _If something happened to them and I wasn't there. _

Somewhat refreshed – the energy bar had at least taken the edge off his hunger – Takashi started walking again. He tried not to think too hard about what he'd do for supper. He'd only had the one energy bar. But surely he'd have reached civilization by then.

#

Takashi walked.

He no longer had any idea where he walked. He had long since begun to suspect that he was _not_ heading in the correct direction to get back to town, but he still had no more idea than before what that direction was supposed to be, so he forged onward. Even if he didn't get back to everyone else, if he could just find some sign of civilization – a small town, someplace with a train station – he'd be able to find his way back.

Sometimes he walked downhill; sometimes uphill. More often than not, the path he walked was close enough to flat that he couldn't tell for sure. He walked through endless trees, some varieties he recognized immediately as being common near home, some he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before. Occasionally, still far less frequently than usual, he began to see _youkai_ out of the corner of his eyes, hiding behind trees and bushes and peeking at him as thought afraid to approach closer. Maybe they'd heard what he'd done to the shaggy _youkai_.

Sometimes the subtle differences in his surroundings were the only thing that let him keep believing that he was making progress at all, and not just walking through an endless loop.

The ambient light surrounding him slowly began to fade – during another brief rest he looked upwards and managed to catch shreds of pink staining the sky – until it was all he could do to see well enough to keep himself from tripping and breaking something in addition to his head.

Finally, though he hated the necessity, he stopped for the night. With as much stumbling as he'd been doing, it was only a matter of time before he injured himself further. He managed to find – mostly by feel, at this point – a tree with a particularly broad root system, two of whose larger roots formed a nice large wedge area where he could curl up and hopefully escape notice for the most part.

Although that would work better if he hadn't already been noticed. He uncurled slowly, but initially made a point of gazing upwards, attempting to count what few stars he could see through the tree's canopy. When that still didn't draw them out, he quietly said, "If you want something from me, you can just ask."

A brief spurt of frantic rustling, as though the majority of the _youkai_ gathered around him had run away. Then, more deliberate rustling coming from straight ahead. He turned his eyes earthwards, and saw the outline of a humanoid _youkai_, about as tall as his seated self. From the long beard that grew from under his faintly glowing mask – which looked like a Noh mask, one intended to represent happiness, he thought – he must be quite an elderly _youkai_.

"You will not strike us down?" He asked, standing about as far away as it was possible to stand and still be within Takashi's field of vision, and looking as though even a harsh word would cause him to flee.

"No, of course not." Takashi said. He leaned forward, noticed the way the _youkai_ took a step backward, and deliberately relaxed back against the tree again.

"But … the forest guardian …"

"Sorry, who?"

"The forest guardian!" He sounded irritated that Takashi had not known who he was speaking about right away. "He is twice your size, and covered in the most glorious long hair, and he protects all within this forest."

The shaggy_ youkai_. Takashi winced. "I would not attack anyone unprovoked. But he struck me, and stole me away from the other humans, and tried to prevent me from returning home. I will fight back under those circumstances."

"Home is where the other humans were?" The_ youkai _asked.

"Yes." Takashi tried not to read too much into the word 'were'. "Do you know what happened? Can you tell me how to get back there?"

"Something very bad happened. It is still happening. The human places are no longer good places to be, Natsume-_dono_. You are better off here, in our forest, where we can protect you. Where we can hide you."

"I don't _want_ to be protected or hidden, I want my friends and family. What do you mean, no longer good places to be?" He leaned forward again. "Why won't anyone tell me what's actually going on?"

The _youkai_ squeaked and hid. Takashi sighed and forced himself to sit back again, and wait to speak until his voice was calm. "Please don't be afraid. I won't hurt you just for talking with me."

The_ youkai_ peeked around the tree for a long moment, then carefully walked back out to his previous position, though he looked even more ill-at-ease than before. "We do not know what it is, Natsume-_dono_. Only that it is frightening, and that it is death to the humans and our kind alike. But while it only targets those humans who invade its territory, we have heard rumors that it will actively seek out our kind. It is a terrible thing. You must not return to the human lands."

"It doesn't matter how terrible it is, or how much danger I will be in if I go." Takashi said. "People important to me are back there. If any still remain, my place is with them. Protecting them, if I can. Or helping them run away if I can't. I can't just abandon them, any more than I could abandon anyone in need." He eyed the_ youkai_. "Not to mention that I can't just stay here. If nothing else, what would I eat?"

"If food is your concern, Natsume-_dono_, we can provide it to you." He said, then put his fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly. Takashi felt a brief pang of envy. Yet another skill that he had never learned. _Maybe when I get back, I can ask Nishimura if he'd be willing to teach me. _

"It's not my only concern." He said. "My primary concern is that my friends and family are in danger, and I'm stuck here, too far away to do them any good. Food is just … a technical detail. Another reason why it wouldn't be wise for me to stay here too long."

A handful of other _youkai_ appeared, looking similar enough to the old one to be part of his group, but all with different masks and mostly only about three-quarters his size. Each of them was carrying something – mushrooms, berries, everything apparently edible, although several of them looked like things that he was pretty sure weren't in season. A tiny one, who looked it was probably a child, rushed all the way up to Takashi and laid out broad leaves, on which the other _youkai_ laid their offerings.

The tiny _youkai_ stayed where it was, staring up at Takashi in obvious fascination. "Um, hi." He said.

It squeaked and ran, hiding itself behind one of the ones carrying berries, who made a gentle shushing noise.

"You don't have to do this." Takashi told the old _youkai_. "It's not going to change my mind, and surely you must be hungry as well?"

"We know all the secret ways to find food in this forest." He replied. "You need not fear for us, Natsume-_dono_. It is our pleasure and our duty to serve you."

"Why duty?" He narrowed his eyes. "Is your name in the Book of Friends? If so, you should have told me, I would be happy to return it to you."

The old youkai bowed his head. "I see that you have become just as gracious as the rumors paint you, Natsume-_dono_. I would indeed like my name back before you leave this place, but there is no rush. You can stay here for as long as you like."

Takashi looked down at the food, conscious of his stomach growling.

The old _youkai_ hesitantly asked, "Is the food not to your liking, Natsume-_dono_?"

"What? Oh, no, it looks delicious." He said. "But I haven't done anything to deserve it, and I'm not going to be staying. It just doesn't feel right to take this food from you."

"Then think of it as thanks." The old _youkai_ said. "For coming through here and allowing us to see you in person, and as pre-emptive thanks for the return of my name. We will all be quite disappointed if you do not partake in that which we have given you."

Takashi looked from the old _youkai_ to the younger ones who had brought out the food, to the youngest, who peeked around its mother's (?) back to look at him again, then squeaked and ducked back when he caught Takashi looking back. And sighed. "If you insist."

The berries were succulent and far sweeter than they had any right to be. The rest of the food laid out for him was similarly delicious, and Takashi was fairly certain that it wasn't just his hunger talking. He was still far from full by the time he finished eating – the _youkai_ clearly had no idea how much food was required to properly feed a teenage boy – but there had been years when he'd survived on far less, and been grateful to get even that. To have had even this much of a meal, when he had been expecting nothing …

He bowed his head to the old _youkai_ in turn. "Thank you for the food. It was all very delicious. If there is anything I can do to repay you …"

"That you return my name, and stay safe, Natsume-_dono_." The old _youkai_ said. "That is all that we ask."

"I will try."

When he curled up that night, it was to the sound of rustling all around him, as a handful of the small _youkai_ settled into their own variations on beds. He wasn't sure if they were supposed to be an honor guard, or if they were there to make sure he didn't wander off in the night without making good on his promise, but either way their presence was oddly welcome. It was a reassuring reminder to Takashi that he might be far from home, but he wasn't quite as alone as he'd feared after all.

#

In the morning, the same group of _youkai_ fed him breakfast – more nuts and berries and mushrooms – and then he returned the old _youkai_'s name.

#

"_What are you doing here, human child?" He demanded. These humans never listened, and as the years went by and more of them invaded, it became more and more troublesome to drive them away, particularly since almost none of them could see him or his compatriots, or sense more than the slightest fraction of the things they attempted to do. _

_He hadn't expected this girl, with long silver hair and a jaunty walk like she owned the forest and everything in it, to be any different. _

_Yet she looked directly up at him, and smiled. "I'm on a school trip, but the museums were boring, so I ditched." She said merrily. "How often do I get to explore an entirely new forest, after all?" _

"_Won't the other humans get worried and come looking for you?" He asked. That was what had always happened with children before. Those, they generally did their best to guide safely out of the forest. It wasn't worth the fuss that inevitably occurred when some child went missing. Humans could be so _loud _when they were upset, and they got upset over the tiniest things. It wasn't like the children were _helpless_, after all, and this forest was mostly safe. _

_She shrugged, and said airily. "Oh, eventually, perhaps. But I should be back long before then." _

"_In that case, please leave this place." He said. "It is quite a distance back to the nearest human town, and we do not welcome your kind here." _

"_Oh, really?" Something subtle shifted in her stance, and he had to fight off an entirely ridiculous shiver of fear. What could a mere _human_ do, after all? "Are you going to make me?" _

"_If you do not leave willingly, we will drive you off, yes." At his signal, a handful of his most trusted compatriots melted forward out of the foliage they'd been camouflaging themselves with. _

_The girl looked surprisingly unimpressed, then broke into a large smile. "How about this, then?" _

"_Let's have a match."_

#

Takashi came back to himself looking up at the canopy of the tree he'd been sitting under. Someone had cushioned his still-aching head with a pile of leaves, which he greatly appreciated. As always, he felt a bit dizzy at first as he sat back up and looked at the old _youkai_. "I apologize for my grandmother's treatment." He said. _So, she came here on a field trip, too. And if she came out here on her own, town must not be _too_ far away._ _ I hope._

The old _youkai_ laughed. "No need to look so contrite, Natsume-_dono_. You – she? – beat me fair and square, and proved to be a surprisingly enjoyable companion, for what little time she spent with us." He sighed, shoulders drooping. "But she, too, had to go back to the other humans in the end. If the terrible things had come then …"

"If they had, she might have stayed." Takashi said quietly. "I get the impression that she didn't have much tying her to the human world. If informed that it was too dangerous to go back, she might have cut her remaining ties and stayed."

"Perhaps." The old _youkai _said. "Or perhaps she would have returned all the faster, in the hopes of challenging those terrible things."

Takashi laughed. On second thought, that sounded more like what little he'd seen of Reiko's personality. "You're probably right."

"You are very much like her in some ways, Natsume-_dono_, but entirely unlike her in others." The old _youkai_ said. "You are sure we cannot convince you to stay?"

Takashi climbed slowly to his feet, pleased to experience no additional bouts of light-headedness. "I'm afraid not."

The old youkai bowed his head. "Then go, and be safe."

Takashi bowed his head in return. "Thank you. You all stay safe as well."

"As safe as any of us are, in this world, anymore." The old _youkai_ replied.

Takashi nodded, then turned and walked away.

The rustling of the old _youkai_'s companions followed him for a short while, but gradually died away, leaving Takashi alone with his thoughts once more.

… _I should have asked for directions. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes:** Some new faces this chapter. In general, if the name doesn't seem familiar, it's probably because they're an OC, but this chapter contains one notable exception: Isuzu-_san_ is the nameless exorcist woman from chapters 23-26.

While I mentioned earlier that this story is AU after volume 17, this is the first chapter that starts really drawing from certain aspects of the most recent volumes of the manga.

And I don't say this enough, but a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed / favorited so far! It makes me really happy to see how much people are enjoying it, and I get a big kick out of reading the speculation. (I swear this fic has brought out an evil side I didn't even realize I had ...)

Enjoy!

# # # Chapter 5 # # #

"Forget our families!" The blond man said passionately, seizing the girl's hands between his own. "Forget society! All I care about is my love for you! Please, say you feel the same. We can run away, to someplace no one will be able to find us. We'll start over again!"

She looked away, her long, brown hair falling across her face, hiding her expression from view. "But … my responsibilities …" Her voice was soft, reluctant. "I want to, you know I do, but …"

The man abruptly turned away. "So is this going to be it?" He asked desperately, imploring the sky above, careful to position himself at just the right angle for the camera to zoom in for a close-up of his artfully distraught face. "I cannot stay, and you will not leave – are we doomed to be apart forever?"

She dashed forward, hugging him from behind, resting her forehead against his back. "Please, don't be like this. It won't be forever. I can convince my father, if you'll just give me a little bit more –"

Silence.

He could no longer feel her arms around his waist, her chest and forehead pressed against his back. He could not, in fact, sense her presence at all.

Loath as he was to break character, Natori Shuuichi turned around, struck by the sudden conviction that something had just gone very, very wrong.

No sign of his co-star.

He looked up. No one manned the camera directly in his line of sight.

He turned a slow half-circle, scanning cameras, break area, director's chair, everything. Empty. Not a person in sight. He met Hiiragi's eyes, where she stood off to the side of one of the cameras. "What happened?"

Normally he'd never speak to his _shiki_ in public. But whatever this situation was, it was clearly not normal.

She shook her head. "I don't know, Master."

"Did you see anything? I assume they didn't all just – disappear."

She hesitated, then shook her head again. "I wasn't looking directly at anyone when they vanished."

He frowned. "I didn't sense anything. Do you know of any _youkai_ who might have been able to do this?" He didn't. And why would it have only spared him?

"There are no _youkai_ anywhere near here." Hiiragi said.

He looked at her sharply. "What, none? I could have sworn I saw a handful of mushroom heads a couple of minutes ago. And a raven flew by not long before that." If those had been the only minor _youkai_ in the area, he would be very surprised. He had mostly been concentrating on his _other_ job at the time, after all.

"There _were_ other _youkai_ in the area." She confirmed. "They all left."

"… Why?"

She tilted her head, looking towards Shuuichi for a long moment. "It felt like something was coming." She finally said. "Something big, and not at all friendly. You didn't feel it?"

Shuuichi shook his head. He completed another turn. Still no one. Disturbing, though he supposed it saved him having to deal with the awkward questions about why he was talking to himself.

"How widespread?"

"… I don't know. But I doubt it was local."

Shuuichi gave himself a moment to take a deep breath and close his eyes. He'd _liked_ his current director. And his co-star had been better at working through her awkward crush on him than a lot of other girls he'd worked with. He couldn't say he really knew most of the rest of the staff, but they'd all seemed competent enough. He'd worked with far worse. _If I ever find out who or what did this …_

Clench fists. Unclench fists. Open eyes. And go.

"Sasago, Urihime. Check in on the Natori estates, starting with the main house." His other two _shiki_ swirled into visibility and nodded in near unison. "Report back to me whatever you find, usual pattern. If you find whatever did this, _do not engage. _I need information more than vengeance."

"Understood." Sasago said.

"Hiiragi –"

"I'm staying with you."

He glared. "I need information more than protection right now."

She set her stance, and her voice was similarly unyielding. "Information will be no good to you if you're not alive to hear it."

He spread his hands. "Whatever just happened, it was clearly not interested in me. And you yourself just said there were no other _youkai_ in the area. If anything small appears, I'm more than competent to handle it myself. You _know_ that."

"It wasn't interested in you the first time. That doesn't mean it won't be interested in you if it comes back."

"Do I have to make it an order?"

"Will I have to disobey your order?"

"Master." Sasago interrupted. "Please let Hiiragi stay with you. It would reassure us all to know you are protected."

Urihime nodded, her long black hair stirring counter to the gentle breeze, a clear sign that she was more agitated than her bland countenance appeared.

Shuuichi resisted the urge to sigh exasperatedly. "Fine. You two, go. Hiiragi – hand me my phone?"

She grabbed it out of the duffle bag at her feet and tossed it to him. He scrolled through the contacts, glad that he'd had the foresight to add this one.

The other side picked up after two rings. "Hello?"

Shuuichi allowed himself a moment of heartfelt relief. "Fujiwara-_san_, this is Natori Shuuichi calling."

"Oh, Takashi-_kun_'s friend! You should come by and visit next time you're in the neighborhood."

He smiled, disarmed as always by Touko-_san_'s frank friendliness. "I'd love to. However, I'm afraid I'm in the middle of something I can't pull away from at the moment." He checked his watch, and cursed mentally. He'd forgotten that school would still be in session. "When Takashi-_kun_ gets home from school, could you please ask him to give me a call?"

"I'd be happy to, but it won't be until two days from now. He's on a school trip this week."

_Right. May _is_ a prime time for them. Sometimes school seems so long ago now …_

"I don't suppose you have contact information for them?" He asked. "Or his cell phone number?"

"Takashi-_kun_ doesn't have a cell phone." She said, sounding briefly distressed. "It never even occurred – and he didn't say … oh, listen to me rambling on, I apologize. I do have the number for the hotel they're staying at here somewhere …"

As he listened with half an ear to various rustling sounds and murmurs from Touko-_san_, Shuuichi turned another slow circle, then walked over to and up a small mound that formed a local high point for the park in which they'd been shooting this particular scene. Off towards the far end of the park, he thought he saw a couple of people lying in the grass, one half-sitting, waving his arm in the manner of someone enthusiastically explaining something. Aside from that, no one. He knew the company had done their best to discourage gawkers from coming near the set while filming, but he'd never seen them manage to be _this_ successful before.

He removed the phone from his ear briefly, covering the microphone with his fingers. "Hiiragi, could you go check those two out?"

She remained stubbornly, pointedly silent.

"… It's within line of sight. Surely you're not _that_ worried."

"Aren't you?" She asked quietly.

… Worried was not, perhaps, the word he would have chosen. But he could not entirely reject it.

"Here it is!" Touko-_san_ said, then rattled off a list of numbers. Hiiragi handed over pen and a scrap of paper on which he jotted it down. The scrap looked like it had been pulled from one of the scripts. He supposed it wasn't like they'd be needed for anything else anymore.

About to hang up, Shuuichi paused. "Fujiwara-_san_, pardon me, but … have you heard from your husband today?"

"Hm? No, not since he left for work. He's due home in a few hours. Did you want to talk with him, too?"

"… You might want to call him." Shuuichi said absently, still squinting into the distance. Was there only one person left, now? But that didn't make sense; whatever happened a few minutes ago, had happened instantaneously. There shouldn't have been any further disappearances. _Unless Hiiragi's paranoia is far more justified than I'd like to pretend it is. _"I'm not entirely sure what just happened, or how broadly impactful it has been, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious."

"'What has happened'?" Touko-san asked, worry sharpening her voice. "Is Takashi-_kun_ in danger? Are _you_ in danger, Natori-_san_?"

He smiled his most charming smile, even though there was no one there to see. "I'm in no danger, and I'm sure Takashi-_kun_ is fine as well. I just seem to have … misplaced a few things." _Like the entire rest of my film crew. _"Oh, looks like break is ending. Pardon me, Fujiwara-_san_, but I must go now." He pulled the phone away from his ear and flipped it closed before he could say anything else unwise.

"Break?" Hiiragi asked, her head turning for a moment to indicate the now-abandoned film site. "That hardly seems appropriate."

"Whatever just happened, there's no doubt that it's related to _youkai_ somehow." Shuuichi said, turning and starting to walk down the hill. "You know how Natsume feels about bringing the Fujiwaras into this world."

"And that comment about Shigeru-_san_?"

Shuuichi paused for a moment, eyebrows raised, at this evidence that Hiiragi actually knew Natsume's foster parents' names, but decided to let it pass without additional comment. "If this is widespread," he said grimly, "I'm afraid that Natsume's desires may soon be a moot point. It's reassuring that we were able to reach Touko-_san_ so easily, but … I'd rather Natsume have a foster father that's alive, well, and in the know, than one who is dead. I'm sure he feels the same."

The tips of the light stands were still just barely in sight behind the hill when Shuuichi stumbled across the first signs that the park had not, in fact, been successfully cleared by the film crew; that its inhabitants had presumably disappeared in the same manner and at the same time as his coworkers.

A purse. Three pairs of shoes, one adult and two children, lined up neatly in a row. Half-hidden in the shade of a tree, a blanket, with half-full picnic baskets and mostly-cleaned-off plates that the ants were already starting to invade. His heart wanted to ache, but he shoved the feelings aside. He hadn't known these people. Now, he never would. And he already had more than sufficient reason to want whatever it was that did this to pay. Further emotional involvement would just distract him.

Cresting another small hill, he squinted, then turned to Hiiragi. "This is the right direction, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Then why can't I see anyone now?"

She shrugged. "Either you were seeing things before, they've moved on, or … they haven't." _But something else has. _

"You're so comforting."

"I see little point in lying."

They finally reached the area Shuuichi thought he had remembered seeing the people in. Certainly someone had been there – he could tell that much from the pair of backpacks spilling haphazardly across the ground and each other, as though someone had dumped them there and declared that they'd fix the mess when it was time to leave.

Of any other human presence, though, there was no sign. And in front of him …

He held out his hand. "Glasses?"

Unfortunately, although his glasses sharpened his surroundings slightly (and the fact that he really was a bit nearsighted was a secret he intended to take to his grave), they did very little to help him figure out just what he was seeing in front of him.

It looked like nothing more than a pool of shadow, about two meters wide at its longest and irregularly shaped. Something else hovered above it, wisping and pale like cigarette smoke, that stretched a bit higher than Shuuichi was tall. And …

He leaned forward, squinting. "Are those _teeth_?" _Might explain why it feels so hungry._

Hiiragi pulled him backwards just in time to avoid a sudden upwelling of shadow aimed directly for his face. "I'm not sure, but let's keep them from biting you, just in case." She said, a little breathlessly.

The pool of shadow inched towards them. "Run?" Hiiragi asked.

"Run."

They paused to regroup and catch their breath at the top of the nearest hill, looking downwards. Now that he knew what he was looking for, Shuuichi was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. The shadow hid fairly well in the grass, but the smoke above it was still visible if he squinted, and if he concentrated, he could feel its malicious hunger even from here. "Is that what consumed everyone else?" He asked. With the speed at which it was moving – faster than glacial, but not by much – it seemed unlikely, but he certainly couldn't think of anything else.

Hiiragi crossed her arms, intent in the lines of her body as her mask bent towards it. "Not exactly that." She said finally. "It feels … similar but different. They're likely related."

"… Great." A hungry, half-visible shadow creature with lots of teeth, whose appearance was just out of phase enough with reality that staring at it for too long threatened to give Shuuichi a headache. He did a mental inventory. "A full exorcism is out of the question, but let's see if I can at least trap it."

"Master …"

"No, Hiiragi. This creature is clearly a threat to anyone it comes across. And if there are any normal people left – which Touko-_san_ seems to indicate there are, assuming this phenomenon has reached that far – I doubt they'll be able to see it. They'll just stumble into it, and –" he clapped sharply. "I have a duty to try."

"… What happened to 'information is more important than vengeance'?"

Shuuichi granted her a wintry smile. "I do have sufficient regard for my skin to attempt to avoid getting killed. And at worst …" he paused. "People recognize you as my _shiki_. Find someone. Even Matoba, if you must. Tell them everything we've discovered so far."

She stepped uncomfortably close, looking up at him. "I would rather die," she said quietly, "than stand by and watch you fall."

He pulled his most charming smile around him like a shield. "Well then, it's a good thing there will be no more dying today, isn't it?" He reached inside his jacket, glad that today's outfit had been loose enough that he had been able to tuck away a number of the paper dolls that were his preferred weapon. "Here we go."

The monster had not moved so much as stretched in their direction, now looking more like a rounded triangle than the roughly circular form it had taken before. Even the closest edge had moved no more than maybe half a meter in the entire time they had been talking. Still, to reassure Hiiragi (and, if he was honest, himself), he stopped about halfway down the hill. This much additional distance wouldn't dilute the power of his paper dolls much, and he liked the idea of having a head start.

"Master …"

Hiiragi's tone was a warning, but she had not actively tried to obstruct him yet. Good enough for now. He pulled his hand from his jacket, the first couple of the chain of paper dolls clutched between fore- and middle finger, and flung his hand outward with a flourish and a wordless shout.

They responded as well as ever to his will, whipping outward to wrap around the shadow creature, binding it there until he could figure out what to do with it with what limited supplies he had on hand.

At least, that's what was supposed to have happened.

The first two chains settled across the monster crossways, but the moment they settled fully, they simply melted into nothingness, the tail ends of the chains floating to the ground next to the monster, their power extinguished.

Shuuichi frowned, throwing four additional chains, keeping hold of his end. For fine-grained control, retaining physical contact with the chain still worked best. Those caught and held, and for a moment, he felt a burst of triumph.

Then he noticed that the parts touching the monster had turned black. Not disintegrated, like the first set; it almost appeared that it had assimilated them. And the black part was creeping up the chain of paper dolls, far faster than the monster itself moved.

Shuuichi tried to let go of his end of the chains. He found he literally could not, some force holding him in place, continuing to draw on hispower.

He tried to back up, but after a couple of steps he had to either stop or risk wrenching his shoulder. He knew better than to try and rip them – paper his chains might be, but reinforced as they were, it would take someone stronger than him to tear them apart. He set his stance and tried to whip the chain back and away, focusing all his will on demanding that they release their target, but all that did was pull the monster closer.

The black had crept almost halfway up the chain now.

"Don't move." Hiiragi's voice whispered on the breeze of her passage.

He looked up just in time to see her fall, blade glinting with sunlight and power, to strike the chain at about the halfway point between the monster's encroachment and Shuuichi's position.

It resisted, and for a long moment, Shuuichi feared it would not be enough.

Hiiragi shouted wordlessly, her power blazed, and the chain broke.

Shuuichi stumbled backwards, but wasn't even given time to regain his balance before Hiiragi scooped him up and jumped away. He made himself go mostly limp in her grasp. He knew from experience that that made it easier on them both. "I can stand, you know." He said, exasperated.

"Look behind you." She said. "I told you, I'm not letting you die." She touched down, then leapt again. He craned his neck, trying to find a position in which he could see behind them. He caught a glimpse of fuzzy shadow, arcing higher than it had any right to, before the angle and the dizzying speed of their passage made him give up. He always forgot just how much he hated trying to see _anything_ when Hiiragi was carrying him. "I could see better if you let me down."

A small huff of sound that might have been a laugh, and when she touched down this time, she stayed there, setting him back on his feet with her usual gentleness. "I think we're far enough away now."

He turned to look back at where they'd come from, properly this time. Given that they were probably halfway back to the set by now, he hadn't honestly expected to see anything at all.

Shadow arced through the air, following roughly what he suspected Hiiragi's initial path had been, and the original shadowy mass looked like it had nearly doubled in size. The arc fell well short of their position, and even as they watched, it collapsed in on itself, oozing back towards the main mass. Still, there was no doubt that without Hiiragi's intervention, he would have been caught. And he had very little doubt in his mind that if that had happened, he would have gone the same way as the couple he thought he had seen earlier – disappeared without a trace. Almost certainly dead.

He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his belatedly jangling nerves. "Thank you."

She shook her head slightly. "It is my duty. And my pleasure." A tilt of her head. "Have you satisfied your need to play hero?"

He huffed, reluctantly amused. "Yes, I do believe I have." He headed back across the field to the set and his bags, Hiiragi falling into step next to him. As he walked, he sorted through his mental list of contacts, trying to figure out who would be the best to send a message to.

_Yamamura-_san_, maybe? He's probably still pretty irritated with me for that one job in his territory a couple months ago, but he's reasonable. If this is widespread, he'll be willing to set aside his issues. And if it's not, he'll probably be willing to at least send me a polite response asking if I'm crazy. _

He paused mid-step. _Takuma-_san. Had his former mentor been affected?

"Master?"

He scrambled for his phone, dialed his old mentor's number and stood there, counting as the rings continued. _Please pick up. Takuma-_san_, Tsukiko-_san_ … _

A click. _"You have reached the –"_

He slammed the phone shut on Takuma-_san_'s recorded voice, closed his eyes, and for a moment just breathed. _Two more to add to the list. When I find what did this …_

He made himself start walking again, ignoring the way Hiiragi looked at him with such blatant concern that he didn't even need to see her face.

He had to dig deep into his bag to find his reserve paper dolls, a brush and bottle of ink. He wished he had his ink stone with him – perhaps the repetitive nature of grinding the ink would have helped him to feel less like he was about to fly apart at the seams – but even on exorcist jobs, he rarely traveled with it. The extra power it allowed him to infuse simply usually wasn't worth how much longer it made the process take. The paper dolls he used for attack weren't ideal for sending messages, but without any properly prepared paper on him, the spell on them was close enough to work in a pinch.

He'd almost finished writing out his message to Yamamura-_san _when the low buzz of power caught his attention. He reached out and snatched the message from the air. Not quite as well done as his own – the Natori clan _was_ known for it, after all – but still a more than adequate job, which narrowed down the field of potential senders considerably. And the only one both near enough to his current position and not retired at the moment –

He recognized the distinctive handwriting a couple of words into the message, the overly careful sentence construction not long after, and sighed. He skipped the pleasantries, skimmed the important details, and tucked the message into an inner pocket without bothering to read the sender's name. He tucked the mostly-finished message to Yamamura away as well. No point in that now.

He packed his supplies back up, zipped his bag shut, and stood, turning to take one last long, hard look at the set. He carefully tucked away both the anger and something that felt suspiciously like pain that the sight evoked. It might not have been his greatest passion, but he had _liked_ being an actor.

_All good things must come to an end. _

He nudged his glasses up on his nose, slung his bag over one shoulder, and turned and walked away. No point in looking back. There was nothing left there for him now.

"Summons?" Hiiragi asked.

Shuuichi nodded. "General exorcist meeting at the primary Matoba compound. 8 o'clock tonight."

"Ah."

_Hopefully the trains are still running. And we don't run into any more of those creatures. _

He wasn't going to hold his breath.

#

Twilight had begun edging towards full dark when they landed just inside the edge of Matoba clan property. As he had feared, the nearest train station had been as abandoned as the park, so it had only been thanks to Hiiragi's superior speed and stamina that they had made it on time. He resisted the urge to crack his neck.

"Ah, young master Natori!"

"We feared you would not be joining us tonight."

Shuuichi nodded in the direction of the two _youkai_, unsurprised that they were once again standing guard. "Aikawa. Ginji. Given the short notice, I assumed an RSVP would not be necessary."

_And given the current state of things, refusing to come just because Matoba __sent the invitation__ would be worse than foolish. _

They exchanged glances. "It was not that." Ginji said, unusually solemnly. "There have been … reports."

_So this meeting will serve as a headcount as well? _

He had guessed that it was his power that kept him from disappearing in that first event. He certainly had no other explanation for why he alone in his crew would have been left untouched. In which case, he'd have expected all exorcists and most of their families to have survived as well.

_Although even if I'm right, that only takes into account__ the first event. If anyone else tried to trap one of those … things, and was not lucky enough to have as dedicated and quick-witted a _shiki_ as Hiiragi to save him from himself … _

He could quite easily believe that _that_ had occurred.

With a final nod towards Matoba's two _shiki, _he pulled his hat lower over his eyes, and joined the steady trickle of people and _youkai_ – noting offhandedly that there appeared to be far fewer of the latter than normal – as they made their way towards one of the central courtyards. Sensible. Shuuichi doubted that even the main Matoba compound had any rooms large enough to hold all the people gathering tonight.

"Wander around for a bit. See if you can catch any hints of anything interesting." He murmured to Hiiragi.

She just looked at him, making no move to depart. He sighed. "I'll be fine. How much trouble do you think I can get up to in a place like this?"

There were times when he really regretted her insistence on always wearing a mask. He suspected that if he could see it, the unimpressed look she was giving him would be legendary. He laughed. "I'll be on my best behavior. I promise! And it's not like I'll be far. You should still have plenty of time to come save me if anything _does_ happen."

She muttered something that sounded like "Your best behavior _is_ what worries me", then let out a sigh at least as deep and exasperated as Shuuichi's own. "Fine. … Don't do anything foolish."

Shuuichi waved dismissively. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. Now shoo."

With one last shake of her head, Hiiragi turned away and melted into the crowd. Once she disappeared, Shuuichi started working his way in the opposite direction. He exchanged cordial greetings with a number of fellow exorcists, wary nods with a handful of _youkai_, and even warier nods with a few who could have been either.

Unsurprisingly, the most prevalent subject of discussion was the event of the afternoon. Reminded of Hiiragi's comment, he paid close attention to who was saying what. Those he recognized as human speculated wildly – unfortunately, not bringing up any information new to him – while most of the _youkai_ he saw stayed quiet, looking worried. He saw a few small groups of _youkai_ chatting quietly, but they inevitably fell silent when he approached. _Hopefully Hiiragi will have more luck_.

Those not speculating about the event itself were mostly comparing notes on who had survived and whose status was still unknown.

Seeming to bear out his theory, none of the _known_ disappearances were exorcists or those of their associates known to have some power, though it was sometimes difficult to sort rumor from fact.

Friends and family fared less well. Most of the people Shuuichi spoke to or eavesdropped on mentioned the loss of at least one powerless associate, and many mentioned being unable to reach half or more of the people they attempted to contact. More often it was friends or domestic help than family.

He wondered if that was a meaningful trend – could it be that the blood relationship granted some reduced immunity? For friends, could power leakage be producing a similar effect?

He resisted the urge to scowl. _Too many questions, and far too few answers._

His descriptions of being the only one left of his film crew were met with a sort of puzzled condolence; those aware of his double life tended to view it with amused tolerance at best. Queries about the state of the Natori clan were met with as skilled of deflections as he could muster. He had yet to hear from Sasago and Urihime, and had no taste for speculating.

Their continued absence was starting to worry him, just a bit. It was not entirely unreasonable, given the distance they'd have to travel – there was a reason he'd rented out an apartment in Sakaki, after all, aside from the fact that living at home had come near to driving him mad. Still, even given the distance, he'd have expected them to be back by now. _I'd send Hiiragi to go check up on them. If I thought there was any chance at all that she'd go. _

He shook his head. _I'm becoming as soft with my _shiki_ as Natsume is with that companion of his. _

_Natsume._

He found a mostly-ignored corner and pulled his cell phone out. No missed calls or texts – not that he'd have expected the latter. His call to the hotel earlier that afternoon had been a bust. Not even an answering machine for him to leave a message on. (And not like there would have been anyone around to listen to it after the fact even if he had.)

He toyed with the phone, considering. It might not hurt to give it another try. If there were any students left, they might have chosen to gather back at the hotel. (And there _had_ to be, Natsume at least had far too much power to be taken and too much sense to let himself get eaten afterwards. Probably.) And if so, it would probably have taken a great deal longer to get there than normal, with neither trains nor subways likely running.

Unfortunately, just when he had found a likely-looking exit – he had no desire to share his conversation with this particular group of people, if he turned out to be lucky enough to have a conversation to begin with – a gong rang. _Typical. __I must__ admit it did a good job of getting everyone's attention, though. _

Nanase-_san_ stood in one of the open-air corridors that hemmed the courtyard in, clearly meant to be seen as the "front" for the purposes of this particular meeting. Shuuichi tucked his phone back away, made a mental note to try to call afterwards, and turned his full attention towards the front.

"I'm sure you know why we've asked that you gather here today." She said.

Scattered laughter was her reply. Not for the first time, Shuuichi wondered about the sense of humor of the typical exorcist. (He chose to ignore what it said about him that he had smiled.)

"I will let you get back to your mingling soon, but first, we wanted to make sure that you all knew this:

"There is something out there. It seems to have mostly targeted normal humans, but I'm sure you yourselves have noticed enough missing faces to draw your own conclusions."

Shuuichi frowned. He knew for a fact that the monster he had seen had had no qualms about targeting him, and in fact had seemed to grow stronger from contact with him. A fact which seemed, to put it mildly, somewhat pertinent to the situation at hand.

"We do not know what it or they are, how numerous they are, or whether they will strike again. But what we do know is that our core reason for existence has not changed: we must protect the normal humans from threats they cannot see." She bowed. "The Matoba clan believes that now is not the time to stand apart. We ask that you set aside your old rivalries and join us in protecting normal humans from _youkai_ and this new threat alike."

Shuuichi allowed his eyebrows to raise. _A power grab, is it? I wonder how the other large families will react to that._

He resisted – barely – the urge to slip out the back. He still didn't know exactly how much the world had changed, but one thing that hadn't was that he still had no patience for Matoba games.

But this was more important than their games. So Shuuichi did what he did best: draw attention to himself.

"Excuse me! Nanase-_san_. If I may have the floor?" As he made his way to the front, the pathway ahead of him cleared. _Youkai_ and human alike stared at him as he passed. If not all the stares were friendly, well … he _was_ a Natori, after all.

The older woman looked briefly surprised before schooling her features back into polite neutrality. "Of course, Natori-_kun_. We appreciate your clan's willingness to join with us."

He held back a grimace. Correcting her would distract from his point and possibly derail the conversation entirely. _I suppose I can let it slide for now._

He reached the edge of the courtyard and, in a bout of showiness – had to give the audience what they expected, after all – vaulted the railing, landing a few feet away from Nanase-_san_. Who now looked decidedly too amused for his continued peace of mind.

He turned to the crowd, and had to clear his throat to give himself a moment to recover. He hadn't really noticed while mingling, but from this slightly higher vantage point, the difference was obvious. _Far_ fewer exorcists were in attendance than usually appeared at these meetings. Including a number of faces he had never seen miss one, but had assumed that he simply hadn't crossed ways with yet.

Anger threatened to stir again, and again he suppressed it. _Later_.

"I'm afraid I don't have much to add with respect to the initial incident."

He considered briefly, then discarded the idea of mentioning Hiiragi's apparent premonition immediately prior to the event. If any humans had felt something similar, he ought to have heard. And if it was unique to the _youkai_, there was little point to bringing it up. He was not in the mood for yet another round of argument about how far _youkai_ – even _shiki_ – were to be trusted.

He placed his hands on the railing and leaned forward. "What I want to talk to you about is the aftermath. In particular, a phenomenon I observed earlier this afternoon that seemed to be, if not the same as the initial incident, then at the very least related. Tell me, have any of you seen shadows today where no shadows should be?"

Looking across the crowd, he saw a few considering faces, and a few doubtful, but most simply intrigued. _Perhaps it's a good thing I came forward to talk, after all. I may be the only one here who _has _encountered one of those creatures. _

He briefly outlined the incident earlier, placing particular emphasis on how it reacted to his paper dolls, his inability to break away, and the way it had followed the arc of Hiiragi's jump during their retreat.

"If, as Nanase-_san_ implied earlier, the first incident affected only or primarily normal humans, this creature – creatures, I suspect, since I doubt I was unlucky enough to run across the _only_ specimen – may be the explanation for why some of our compatriots are missing from here tonight." He let his eyes scan across the crowds. "I urge you to _be careful_, and should you encounter another of these creatures, I would recommend that you _not_ engage them, until we know of a better way to deal with them.

"There are few enough of us as it is. We should endeavor to avoid losing any more." He bowed. "Thank you for your time." Turning to Nanase-_san_, he bowed more shallowly. "And for your patience."

She eyed him entirely too speculatively for his peace of mind, then regally nodded in return. "And thank you, for sharing your experience with us."

"It was the least I could do." He replied, completely honestly. With another, abbreviated nod, he vaulted back over the railing and did his best to melt back into the crowd.

It didn't work too well.

At least until Nanase-_san_ drew everyone's attention again. "Does anyone else have any observations they would like to report? Any information, no matter how seemingly minor, may be critical at this juncture."

That triggered a great deal of murmuring, but no one else stepped up, much to Shuuichi's dismay. He'd hoped that _someone_, at least, would have some new information for him. But at least that distraction was enough to allow him to start working his way back towards the edges of the crowd.

"In that case, I will not take up any more of your time." Nanase-_san_ said. "Please feel free to stay here as long as you'd like, especially those of you who have travelled a great distance to be here. We will not turn people away in this trying time" _Especially not people who may be useful to you_, Shuuichi thought cynically "and the trains are, after all, no longer running."

He never saw her leave, because as soon as she stepped back, he found himself practically mobbed by the people in the vicinity, all of them wanting to know more about his abortive attack on the creature.

He did his best to be patient with the questions. He couldn't blame them for wanting to turn to anyone who knew more than themselves for advice. For looking for some way to make sense of the mess that the world had become.

In some ways, he wondered if normal humans (the ones who were left) might be reacting better to this situation than his fellow exorcists. Certainly, something terrible and inexplicable had just happened. But terrible or inexplicable things happened all the time. Exorcists, on the other hand, were used to _seeing_ the source of their troubles, and being able to _do_ something about it. So to be confronted with something they didn't know about, that they currently had no real way to fight …

Shuuichi knew _he_ certainly wasn't happy about it.

Still, there were only so many times he could answer the same questions without going insane. Especially since most of them, like "But how _do_ we stop them?" or "How many of them are there?", he had no more answer to than they did.

"If you're so curious, why don't you go find one and try your theories out yourself!" He finally exploded at an overly earnest, overly young woman. Seriously, she looked barely out of high school; he knew he'd brought Natsume along with him once, and Matoba (damn him) had involved him in another meeting, but he'd regretted it almost as soon as they'd crossed the threshold. Children that age should be concentrating on their grades and first loves, not this mess.

(He chose to ignore the fact that he had dived headfirst into the world of exorcists as soon as he had realized it existed; far younger than this particular woman. If anything, that reinforced his point.)

She reeled backwards, and Shuuichi resisted the urge to wipe his face. _Great, now I'm yelling at children. _"I apologize. It has been a … somewhat trying day." He offered a smile: far less compelling than his usual fare, because he wasn't lying about being tired, but from the star-struck look in her eyes, apparently close enough. "Forgive me?"

"Of course." She assured him hastily. She looked at her watch. "Oh my, is it really that late already? I need to get going." She bowed to Shuuichi. "Thank you again, for the information you've shared. I'll pass it on to my clan, and we'll make sure to pass it on to everyone we meet as well." She offered a shaky smile of her own. "And if I do find out anything more, I'll be sure to let you know. Natori-_san_, right?"

He nodded. "Don't go out of your way to look for them. As Nanase-_san_ said, every exorcist is important."

She actually rolled her eyes at him. "I may be new to this, but I'm not _that_ stupid."

Shuuichi laughed. "See to it that it stays that way."

As though that girl's departure (or his lost temper) had been a sign, the number of questioners began to slow and eventually, _finally_, stopped entirely. He took the opportunity to slip out of the courtyard before any of the remaining people milling about decided they were interested in talking to him after all.

He found an empty side-corridor, dark except for a single, unenthusiastic light about halfway down the hall, and leaned against the wall, tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and sighed.

"I thought you weren't planning on getting into any trouble?"

He didn't even bother to open his eyes at the sound of Hiiragi's voice. "They needed to know."

She laughed quietly and leaned against the wall next to him.

"Have you heard from Sasago or Urihime?"

He cracked open an eye in time to see Hiiragi shake her head. "They may be waiting outside."

Ah. Yes. None of his _shiki_ were terribly fond of entering Matoba territory alone, even if the chance of harassment was fairly small. Shuuichi was well enough known, and his _shiki_ had been around long enough, that claiming ignorance was unlikely to get the perpetrator very far. Still, accidents – and "accidents" – did happen.

When it came down to it, Shuuichi himself wasn't terribly fond of entering Matoba territory alone either.

He pushed away from the wall. "In that case, we should get going." He eyed her critically. "How are you doing? Will you be able to make another run?"

Hiiragi looked around, as though to say _If the alternative is this?_ "I think I'll be able to manage." She said dryly.

They only ran into one person on the way out. Unfortunately, it was the one person who Shuuichi had been hoping he _wouldn't_ see again that night.

"Leaving so soon?" Nanase_-san_ asked sweetly. "The invitation was extended to you as well, you know."

"I very much appreciate the invitation." Shuuichi replied. "But I'm afraid I have some unavoidable business I must get back to." A deliberately nonchalant shrug. "Life goes on, after all." He eyed her. "Where _is_ your esteemed clan head?"

It was either unlike, or _very_ like Matoba to not show up at all. Depending on what the other man was planning.

Nanase_-san_ was, sadly, canny enough not to provide any clues. She simply continued smiling as she replied. "Unavoidable business." The smile brightened. "I'll be sure to let him know you send your regards."

Only knowing that Matoba would take that in exactly the spirit in which it was meant – unkindly – allowed Shuuichi to bite his tongue. He nodded a farewell. "By your leave?"

Halfway to the door, she called his name, and he turned back. Her expression was perhaps the most honest one he'd seen on her face in … a long time, if ever. "Thank you for the information you provided tonight. It may prove invaluable in the days and weeks to come."

_Definitely planning a long game, then._ Well, whatever they were planning, Shuuichi's plans involved being well clear of it. "Not at all. As you said earlier – there are things more important than our rivalries. Especially now." He eyed her. "I hope I can depend on you to send out information on defeating these creatures if you find a way?"

"When." She corrected, the fire in her eyes reminding him that she had not always been content to act as secretary to the head of the clan. "_When_ we find a way, yes, we will spread it as far and wide as we can." She paused. "Can we count on the aid of the Natori clan?"

"For information sharing, absolutely." Shuuichi said. "Any closer alliance, I would need to discuss with the rest of my clan." As the only member of the Natori family with the ability to see _youkai_, he had acted on the clan's behalf numerous times in the past. But it made a convenient excuse.

_And I probably _should_ actually consult them, this time. I know _I _have no interest in being dragged into a revival of the Eleven Noble Houses, or whatever Matoba is plotting. But the others may feel differently. _

This time, when he turned to leave, Nanase-_san_ did not try to stop him.

As they crossed the boundary of the Matoba lands, a pair of shadows detached from the trees, dropping to the ground just in front of his path and nearly giving him a heart attack. He jumped backwards, reaching into his jacket from habit before remembering that if this was more of those monsters, tossing his paper doll chains at them was the last thing he wanted to do.

His eyes caught up with his reflexes, and he relaxed. "Sasago. Urihime. News?"

Urihime's eyes shifted from him to Hiiragi as the blonde deliberately resheathed her weapon, but whatever her thoughts, she seemed disinclined to share. "Your father and grandfather are well. Your grandfather asked that we remind you that telephones exist for a reason."

A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of Shuuichi's mouth. _Figures. Even without any power, the old man's too ornery to die so easily. _"So I take it that Sekihara-_san_ is also well?"

Shuuichi had met the older man a couple years ago, helping him out of a situation he hadn't had enough power to get out of himself. The last surviving member of a former Natori subsidiary clan, he had asked to join, and Shuuichi had seen no reason not to – particularly since it meant he could leave most of the work of running the exorcist side of the clan in Sekihara-_san_'s hands, giving him even fewer reasons to return home.

Shuuichi's father and grandfather had never quite forgiven him for becoming an exorcist – unsurprising, when he sometimes wondered if they'd even forgiven him for being born with this power in the first place – but they'd forged an uneasy peace with Sekihara-_san_ for the most part. Particularly when it meant they could use him as an intermediary to get on Shuuichi's case.

Urihime nodded. "There have been no sightings of a maid who was supposed to come in early in the afternoon, but everyone else is alive and well."

Shuuichi couldn't help his sigh of relief. _I should find out her name, to add to the list. But it could have been _far_ worse._

Sasago stepped forward. "I saw no changes in the abandoned properties. Isuzu-_san_ is well, but according to her report, the village nearby has been nearly decimated. She plans to stay there and help rebuild for the time being, but has agreed to pass on any information she learns about those creatures."

_Good. It sounds like she's calmed down some. Hopefully she won't get it into her head that this is another plot of Matoba's. Another mess like _that_ is the last thing we need right now. _

He took a deep breath. _It's not as bad as I was afraid of. I can work with this._ "Okay." He nodded to Sasago and Urihime. "Thank you. You can rest now, if you like."

With nearly synchronous nods, the two of them poofed back into their dormant form, and Shuuichi looked up at Hiiragi. "I hate to ask –" But with the trains not running and no car available for him to drive, his options were limited.

"Where?" She asked simply, no accusation in her tone.

He wavered. His nice, comfortable bed, back in his nice, empty apartment, beckoned. Even the couch, which was far from comfortable to sleep on. The urge to ignore his responsibility to his clan almost overwhelmed him. Just for one more night.

He sighed. _But that wouldn't be the right thing to do, would it? _

"… Take me home."


End file.
